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Dewdrop'S Soul 




BY 




R. HUME SMITH, 


' 


TEACHER OF PHYSIOGRAPHY. 




HOUSTON HIGH SCHOOL, 




J. V. DEALY CO.. PUBLISHERS. 




HOUSTON. TEXAS. 











UBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooies Rsceived 

JJJN 18 1906 

-, eteyright Entry . 

CLASS 'CL XXc. No, 
^COPY B. 


. h 773 Jl 4- 


Press of J. V. Dealy Co., 
Houston, Texas. 


\(^ Ob 

Copyrighted 1906. 

R. HU.ME SMITH. 

All rights reserved. 

«•' I 



*0 

1 



This Poem is dedicated to the Author's sister, 

NETTIE ROTENSA SMITH, 

whose sympathy and love for her brother were unbounded, 
and whose assistance, given at a sacrifice, enabled him to 
take a degree at the University of Georgia. 

She died the year of his graduation, the young bride 
of D. H. Cooper, Butler, Ga. 



CONTENTS. 



Page 

I. Introduction — The Career and Goal of Science, or 

Its Supernal Beauty ...... 9 

II. The Molten Earth— The Fire and Water Strife . 56 

III. Philosophic Reflections ...... 69 

IV. The Final Battle, and the Initial Results of Peace 86 
V. An Obvious Evidence of Law instead of Chaos; and 

Intimation of Ocean Currents . . . . 91 

VI. The Earth Receives Celestial Lights . . . 96 

VII. The Birth of Terrestrial Magnetism . . . 100 

VIII. The Origin and Work of Winds — The Beginning 

of the General Circulation of the Air .. . . 106 

IX. The Spontaneous Creation of Life . . . 114 

X. Eozoic Era, or Dawn Life ..... 119 

XL Paleozoic Era, or Old Life, and the Permian Period 129 



Page 

XII. Mesozoic Era, or Middle Life, and the Laramie 

Period .161 

XIII. Cenozoic Era, or Recent Life ..... 169 

XIV. The Climax of Creation— The Birth of the Human 
Soul 187 



J 



PREFACE. 

This dewdrop, escaping the abrasion of Time, tells the story 
of Evolution. With singular selective poAver it glides over 
the monotonous details, and records the sublime thoughts as 
they rise from the far-reaching changes that come in quick suc- 
cession Avith this rapid flight through the infinite sweep of 
years. The story begins with the earth as a molten mass of 
matter, mentions the preparation that is made for the advent 
of life, accounts for the origin of plant and animal, records 
the variations, the struggles, and the progress of both, shows 
the physical features of the earth advancing alongside organic 
forms, and concludes with the birth of the human soul. 

An effort is made to eschew the nomenclature of science. 
The ''Arguments" at the beginning of each book when read con- 
secutively give a brief stovj of evolution, and serve, in a limited 
degree, to acquaint the general reader with the scientific knowl- 



edge suggested in the verse. Besides, there is a slight sprinkling 
of footnotes through the poem. The notes are suggestive, 
not elaborative. Tliey, like the ''Arguments", are introduced 
to act as landings along the stairway of the narrative. The 
author hopes to be excused bv the experts when he assumes 
an occasionally dogmatic air, in dealing with debatable ques- 
tions, on the ground that to the imagination certain rights — 
rigidly, and properly, withheld from the scientist — are ac- 
corded. 

The essay is an attempt to reconcile poetry and science. It 
is purposely unconventional. The two forms of argument — 
the direct and the indirect — make it so. One form addresses 
the intellect, the other appeals to the soul; one is concerned 
Avith the logic of thought, the other with the choice of meta- 
phors; in short, one is supposed to reinforce the other in the 
simultaneous bombardment of the reasoning faculties and the 
emotions. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The Career and Goal of Science, 

OR 

Its Supernal Beauty. 

Who calls this the electric age? Wh-en every human soul 
with the swiftness of light, responds, out of synipath^^, to the 
vibratory movement of thought, as spirit throws open the key 
to send the message of truth, then, and not until then, can 
we pronounce this in the highest sense the electric age. There 
are those who still stand at the SAvitchboard trying to ground 
the messages which should pass around the globe. Or, to change 
the figure to suit the character of the antagonists, the moment 
the banner of a new^ ideal unfurls, the skeptics and conserva- 
tives fly to the w^alls and battlements ready to defend unto 
death their sacred prejudices. 



10 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

How often tlie siege continues until death from old age re- 
moves the original fighters from the breastworks ! But, thank 
lieaven ! truth does not suffer death, and if it is not triumphant 
in one generation it is in the next. Experience teaches us that 
Yictory, with absolute certaintT, falls to the side of truth, thougli 
the celebration and honor of triumph are frequently postponed. 

In every age some divinely appointed soul receives the glit- 
tering staff, and out upon the breeze floats the imperial ban- 
ner emblazoned with its own glorious light, while around it 
rally a vast multitude of the quick and the dead, and above 
it swells and expands the mighty volume of the exultant shouts 
— a grand chorus, the" fitting accompaniment to the majesty' 
of the music of the spheres. But still the host of assailants 
is amazingly large. Does the opposing force, we ask, weaken 
from age to age? Undoubtedly ! And somewhere in the human 
heart, burns the heaven-fed, imperishable hope that, from birth, 
the royal lineage of truth shall be established, and straightway 
the dignity of crown and throne shall be added. That this 



The Poetry of Science, 11 

liope should live and grow, the evolution of organic and spiritual 
life bears testimony. 

The basis for our belief stands secure. Every righteous 
struggle for reform, every eager desire for exploration and dis- 
covery, eyeTj ardent passion for truth for truth's sake; in a 
Avord, everj^ ^oftj, soul-inspired impulse that rolls out of a hu- 
man heart a« a tidal wave bounding across ocean depths of prej- 
udices, of grand and ignoble motives, and rushing against the 
high and the low, the straight and the crooked shores of national 
thought and life, or human hopes and passions, conforms to 
a permanent, irresistible, inevitable plan — a great design grow- 
ing out of Supreme Eeason. 

This great Architect does not build air-castles, nor can He 
conceive a plan too gigantic for His constructive ability. When 
the times are ripe for a change of standards, a new truth, or 
a new phase of truth, witness the course of this Supreme Eeason 
in appointing a kingly soul and character to plant the banner 
of the new ideal upon the ver}^ strongholds of the enemy. This 
necessarily means the birth of a new epoch. 



12 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

The appointment is made. Under the sea and over the land 
flashes the news. Hark! That is thunder from the cjdinder- 
presses all over the world turning out extra editions for pro- 
claiming the tidings of great joy. In a moment the great heart 
of the human race throbs with pride and buoyant hope. Human 
Yoices shout, whistles scream, cannons roar, and bells ring 
out until the very firmament is vibrant with the universal joy. 
Behold ! A fearless monarch seizes the scepter. Joy to those 
who pa}^ willing homage, woe to those who dare dispute his 
high supremacy! His eyes flash fire from the fiint-like firm- 
ness of his convictions, and his magnetism and strength of 
character summon to his command legions of concordant hearts. 
With this invincible force, his attacks are as sudden and ter- 
rific as the floods rushing down the heights of a volcanic moun- 
tain suddenly disturbed to its center with raging fire. Oh ! the 
extraordinar}' consternation ! the very foundations of society 
are shaken ! Presently a stream of lava will follow, not so 
swift, but doubly terrifying, as its liquid heat destroys, con- 



The Poetry of Science. 13 

sumes, and converts into its own element, whatever it touches ; 
hut liappily, in cooling, heconies the basis for a new and higher 
order of societ3\ 

Wherever he marches his conquest is complete, and from the 
heart of his o^yll kingdom he jDlants a colony, the floAver and chiv- 
alry of his dominion. How delightful is the exhibition of his 
power! As we watch him it appears that every opposition is 
a multiple that increases his strength, and from his magnifi- 
cent cami>aign we get the impression that opposition is a sig- 
nificant force in the achievement of every great and glorious 
enterprise. To oppose him is like throwing a dam in the path 
of a mountain torrent, which only raises the potential energy, 
and the higher the obstruction the more violent and dreadful 
must be the devastatino- tendencv. With a velocitv more fright- 
ful and with an aim more deadly, flies that cannon ball which 
meets greatest resistance in the bore. With thunderous speed 
the express train plunges through mountains and over plains be- 
cause gravity affords a constant opposition. Tlie ocean steamer, 



14 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 



opposed by the Avaves, can pass from continent to continent 
over the mighty deep. The eagle can soar above the clonds, 
and the airship, his proud rival, can rise above the spires and 
towers and sail away because there exists opposition in the 
atmosphere. And, likewise, it appears that so long as action 
is equal to reaction and in the opposite direction, the success 
of this princely character is assured. He is the exponent of a 
cause which can know no defeat. He wields a sword which 
is truth, and, like fire, is matchless as a destroying and puri- 
fying agency. 

What an imposing figure, this of our conqueror ! A colossus 
among men. Even a glimpse at the stately character is an 
incalculable beneddction. He is the transcendent incarnation 
of the truth that actuates him. His soul, the Crystal Palace, 
pncompassing and reflecting the essence of the most useful 
and the most beautiful! His mission is to create harmony, 
and his life is an inspiring, ennobling, elevating, electrifying 
force upon mankind. He sees the universal relation. He 



The Poetry of Science. 15 

widens our compass with wliicli we must describe greater arcs, 
and afterwards must live within larger spheres. His mind is 
a prism that catches the rays of complex thoughts and spreads 
them out as a spectrum upon the screen of consciousness where 
analysis is certain and lucid. 

His vision is deep and broad. Through infinite depths of 
ether-^^'ave!S messages from hitherto unseen, unknown stars 
emerge, lifted into view through media of mechanical eyes, 
and through a similar vision the stars of snowflakes and the 
wonders of kindred depths lie revealed. His vision sweeps 
still farther, even to the border of Unseen Keality, and his mes- 
sages, still more sublime, seem resonant with the music of 
heaven. His is the keen, penetrating eye of Genius. He builds 
his observatory upon the mountain top, in the region of calm, 
rarefied, transparent atmosphere, and with the eye of insight 
and reason pierces the Via. Lactea and gazes with serene satis- 
faction upon the stars of truth — the '^casket of precious gems'' 
long hid from the vulgar and uninspired. 



16 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

His range of view is extremely wide. Nothing escapes the 
search of his critical eye. He lifts the weather-beaten, moss- 
mantled rock, and upon a mongrel community of the tiny deni- 
zens of the earth falls a blaze of light, — no greater cause for 
alarm, terror, and cowardly flight to these small creatures 
of the dark can be imagined. 

It is a joy to watch his movements! Whatever he touches 
he magnifies and dignifies. He fixes attention upon an object 
or an ideal and, with an intensity of enthusiasm for its im- 
portance, discloses a matchless power w^hich seems to lie in 
concentration. Like an illusion or a mirage the thought allures 
us, and we dedicate our richest gift of rhetoric to the glory of 
concentration; and who would not conclude that concentra- 
tion possesses a magic power? ^Ye feel that concentration 
brought to light the laws that govern the movements of the 
heavenly bodies; that concentration solves the problems of 
industrial arts and puts ball-bearings upon the wheels of prog- 
ress; that concentration enriches our lanoruao-e and adds from 



The Poetry of Science. . 17 

time to time a precious jewel to the diadem of literature; aud 
tliat concentration reinforces conviction, turns an oxygen- 
stream upon the flame of zeal, and, working tlirough Genius, 
overwhelms the great audience of world spectators with solemn, 
silent awe, as though gazing upon a comet enjoying meridian 
splendor. 

The thought is fascinating and, lifted, as it were, upon the 
swells of the eloquent argument of physical forces, we are con- 
strained to continue in our encomium to concentration : Steam, 
confined and forced against the piston rod, drives the mighty en- 
gine with its heavy burden of cars over the bars of steel ; electric- 
ity, caught as a prisoner from the skies, issues from dynamos 
and batteries, a marvel of concentratedi power, causing the whir 
of cars, the blaze of lights, and the roar of maehinery ; the sun- 
l)eams, at once the source of all beauty and power, thrown into a 
point Avith a convex lens, become a tongue of flame and a light of 
wondrous brightness, intimating a power which could melt 
mountains down, convert rivers into steam, and turn lakes into 



18 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



s-eas of boiling water; and so we learn that human tliongbt 
concentrated upon an ideal becomes an irresistible force, a 
locomotive for energy, electricity for swiftness, and a sunlight 
flame that melts down the most powerful opposition, securing 
TO its possessor the grand reward of a realized ideal. 

But here let tis pause a moment for reflection, lest we for- 
get that behind this lies a greater power. T\> can but feel 
how small are the forces of steam, electricity, and sunlight, 
when brought into contrast with the power of Spirit working 
through a human soul. Let tis understand that concentration 
is an attribute of genitis, and the very ideal of which we speak 
with its accompanying power of concentration, is the gift of 
the Oversoul to genius, to whom, it mnst be admitted, human- 
ity owes its greatest debt of gratitude for whatever broadens 
its view, deepens its sympathy, purifies and elevates its stand- 
ards, or whatever contributes towards furnishing to the race 
the conscious enjoyment of the rarest, richest, and grandest 
possession — spiritual freedom — ^that star in the East, that 



The Poetry of Science. ■ 19 

glorious goal towards wliicli the wise are moving^ and for 
whicli the hiiiiiaii race is bound, though as yet unconsciously. 



If we inherit a prejudice against science, it is traceable to 
the time when only a few men undertook to interpret the phe- 
nomena of the physical forces by experimental methods. Un- 
fortunately, among these men were found some who were ex- 
tremely selfish and unscrupulous. Their conduct and unworthy 
aims gave to science the name of ''black art", an imputation 
which would have faded out long ago, like mildew under the 
action of sunlight, but for religious zealots who, in seeking 
to deflour the daughter of the intellect of her beauty and virtue, 
gave her a bruise from the merciless bludgeon of ignorance. 

This fair creature, born of the human heart, which throbs 
with an instinctive, unquenchable desire for the industrial and 
cultural elevation of th-e race, sutfered, therefore, a relapse in 
the Middle Ages that proved all but fatal. The fury of the 



20 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

mad, but "well intentioned", foes would not allow the bruise 
to heal. Blow after blow, keeping up the irritation, was dealt 
by hands fighting for the supremacy of their sacred legends 
in the interpretation of the natural phenomena. 

How we tremble to think of the narrow escape from deadly 
gangrene, the poisonous germs of which were floating thick 
everywhere in that mediaeval atmosphere! They seized the 
gTeat Giordano Bruno while fighting that frightful malady 
and tortured his body with the darkness and the dankness of 
dungeon life, and at last, with a triumphant yell, saw his visible 
form wrapped in flames and quickly changed into cinders; 
they eaught the thinking, outspoken Galileo, brought him to 
his knees, and wrung from his lips, not his heart, a denial of 
belief in the "helioeentrie doctrine"; but the spirit of thought 
escaped unharmed from those flames, it arose erect and dig- 
nified after such acts of humiliation, and in the brains of its 
greatest champions, became transmuted, and flashed, at inter- 
vals, before the world, a shining, glorious revelation of power ! 



The Poetry of Science. 21 

Dost see that superb glow of stars drawn near to the earth? 
Canst thou read those characters in light shining there in the 
firmament of fame, monuments on the Appian Way of scien- 
tific thought? Along the arc of a parabolic curve, suggestive 
of infinite reach, they swing and shine^ — those strange incan- 
descent flames — fed forever from the dynamos of sober brains 
and sympathetic hearts. Oh, glance along this illuminated arc — 
it is short as yet — and read the signs of scientific progress. 
There above the names of Copernicus and Kepler are the glow- 
ino; words: '^Planetarv ]Movements". A little farther on» 
woven around the name of Newton, in stead}' beams, glows 
^'Laws of Gravitation''. All along this arc similar lights and 
characters are strung, like electric signboards in a modern city, 
with here and there occasional clusters of exceedino; beauty 
and grandeur. Around the names of Darwin and Wallace 
gleam the startling characters: ''Evolution of Organic Life'', 
above the names of Dalton and others are the twinkling lights : 
"Atomic Theory". We can read on and on, these manifold, 



22 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

sparkling lights, reyealing wonder on wonder of diseoveries 
in heat, light, sound, electricity, surger^^, medicine, dust and 
disease, hygiene; and pass, exalted and exultant, into a sphere 
of visionis ultra-scientitic, — lights that pierce and thrill the 
soul, lights that show the emotional side of science, and, scin- 
tillating, disclose the names of Goethe, Tennyson, Emerson and 
Lanier, intimating thereby possibilities that float dim but sure 
in dreams and visions of poets living or 3-et unborn. 

What has become of those insidious, venomous germs that 
pressed in swarms about the lives of the earlier disciples of 
truth? Have you noticed their rapid disappearance? That 
Bcience which brings destruction to countless other germs, 
though of a different order and less malignant, secures the 
death of these virulent foes through a simple but charming de- 
vice. There above the names of these illustrious men whose 
deeds dazzle and enrich the world, this motto, glittering in 
characters of fire, extends, — pendent, beautiful, isublime: "TrKtJi 
must re'ujn; all cherished theories how i]i homage to this queen:' 



The Poetry of Science. 23 

From these flames strange fumes, as it were, arise, and swarm 
after swarm of those germs, drawn into this air, become stifled 
and perish. 

All must perish — long before our parabola of lettered lights 
is complete! When the last light flashes on this wonderful 
curve, it is then an immeasurable sweep through the Past must 
be had to find the slightest trace of such a germ ! Indeed, may 
we not count them gone even now? — yanquished b}" the philos- 
ophy of Herbert Spencer? All hail to the great exponent of 
the union of Science and Eeligion, the prophet who sees the 
two, united hand ih ha-nd, bowing before the same Inscrutable 
Mystery! With him a new and more destructiye element was 
mixed with those fumes. And now around the exhaustiye 
thoughts of Andrew Dickson White, just a few sickly, almost, if 
not quite, innocuous germs are floating, — dying, dying, doomed! 
Tliey fall back from the breath of the last named apostle of 
truth as if his words, wrapped in flre, singe the wings of some 
antagonists, and inspire others as with the terror of a thun- 
derbolt. 



24 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

Does Science still suffer from this early bruise? No! The 
pain is gone. With the introduction of the study of natural 
science in our colleges and universities, and eyen in our public 
schools, the bloodshot condition of this ugly bruise no longer 
exists, but still the sign of a murderous blow is there. It is 
our desire that all eyidence of this painful blow should be re- 
moved, and that even the memory of it should fade into oblivion. 
Some sort of salve, then, must be provided to secure this re- 
sult. 

Fortunately we have to apply our skill to the removal of a 
jbruise, instead of a scar, otherwise, our hope would be frus- 
trated; unless, perhaps, in controversion to our preconceived 
aspiration, we should regard the scar as a mark of honor worthy 
of the veneration we accord the wounds of the battle-scarred 
veteran. It is likewise gratifying to know that we are to use 
our medicinal balm upon a subject enjoying even now the 
health, the vigor, and the strength of robust youth, and capable 
of exhibiting the merits of our liniment where a less vigorous 



The Poetry of Science. 



25 



patient ^vould fail, lackiug the natural, vital po^ye^ of recup- 
eration and reinforcement. 

We wish to herald the birth of a Genius that shall embody 
in immortal song the Poetry of Science. His birth shall bring- 
our ''balm''. He is bound to come, though long deferred, and 
why not strive to arouse his spirit in the present epoch? Who 
knows but that the royal blood is flowing through your veins, 
O pensive reader of these lines? If so, assert your claim to 
the crown. All Avill rejoice in the possession of an anointed 
leader. Oh, that these words and thoughts would conjure up 
an incarnated soul that shall sing within reach of our ears his 
songs of rapturous love and praise of science! 

To remove every vestige of the bruise we require the united 
skill and influence of every lover-student of science and litera- 
ture. 

AYith the scientiflc use of the imagination and with the aid 
of the loftv, Avell-rei>ulated emotions of the best and the ablest 
of the thinking world, we shall attain the results at which we 



26 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

aim. When this "^miraculous ointment'' is prepared, it shall 
declare itself as the universal recognition and love of the Poetry 
of Science. 

As a preliminary we must see that every irritant unfriendly 
to the bruise, and every form of infusoria that would affect 
the purity of our salve, when unsealed, should be removed or 
destroyed by proper disinfectants. A necessary precaution! 
The atmosphere of our universities and colleges is where some 
of our best work is to be done, hence great care is needed to 
avoid serious consequences to our patient in this particular 
operating room. In such an atmosphere we find too often the 
unsuspected nidus for malignant germs. All the more dan- 
gerous because unsuspected! Some of our reputed teachers 
are impostors without the suspicion of the public, and ignorant 
of it themselves, and so should be displaced by worthier rep- 
resentatives of Science. It does not require a scientific mind 
to make this discovery. 

It is not so much as necessary for you to visit, in person, 



The Poetry of Science. 27 

# 

any particular college to verifv this statement; argument and 
evidence may be deduced without having you leave the quiet 
and repose of your own private library. We simply ask you 
to make for a moment a rapid survey of your college career, 
that part of it especially that pertains to your course in science. 
Taking it for granted, then, you have followed our suggestion, 
we are ready to present one phase of our discussion in which 
we shall show that the proper teaching of science is far-reach- 
ing in its effect, and the ill that comes of wrong-teaching cannot 
easily be repaired. 

Now, vou observe there are two classes into which scientists 
may be divided, — namely, students and teachers. The former, 
prosecuting their work quieth' and diligently in their labora- 
tories, emerge at irregular intervals with their grand theories 
and discoveries, and force the weight of their great influence 
upon an astonished world; the latter, proclaiming the won- 
drous gospel of science, awaken in the hearts of a vast audience 
the irresistible desire to penetrate the mysteries of the uni- 



^" The Dewdrop's Soul. 

verse. The one pour their treasures, into the lap of an in- 
dustrial world; the other reveal to alert intellects and souls 
thought-mines of inexhaustible riches. The one are concerned 
with commercial expansion ; the other, with spiritual elevatioUo 
This classification, you will note, giyes to the teacher a higher, 
nobler field of work; a generalization that is broader. 

A student may not be a teacher, but a teacher must be a 
student. The former may be eminently successful without the 
qualifications of the latter, but the latter is a failure without 
the elements of the former. The teacher illuminates the dis- 
coveries of the student with a heart aglow with celestial fire. 
From the altar of his flaming emotions his pupils take the 
torches that are to kindle into a blaze their sensitive hearts 
and disseminate that spiritual light which is destined to flood 
the world with its glorious rays. The student, on the other 
hand, while entertained himself with the ^'dry light" of the 
intellect, and unaffected by the warmth and brilliant color 
of the emotions, is utterly powerless to enlighten those avenues 



The Poetry of Science. 29 

down wliich the soul shall glide as a ''trailing cloud of glory" 
to its liveliest hopes and keenest joys. 

The student, that is, the quasi-teacher of science, is the nidus 
f(jr those malignant germs referred to above. He is the source 
of immeasurable danger to the soul-life of college boys and 
girls. The celestial fire in his heart is dead. He does not feel 
the music and poetry of science. He does not know that his 
field of labor bears the soil that quickens the life of literature- 
He is responsible for more cases of soul-paralysis than we 
imagine. Tell him that he is the source of numerous eases of 
"arrested development" in the life of souls, and he will smile 
with the smile of a lunatic whose fingers are smeared with the 
blood of the victim of his madness; and horrors! und'erstands 
not what he has done! He, the rational lunatic, seems to find 
a secret pleasure in bearing always an impassive countenance; 
nay, he is even studious of a manner that portrays not the 
slightest sign of feeling. His blighting breath extinguishes 
the first outflo^^'ing spark of righteous wonder that leaps, like 



30 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

a spontaneous flame, from the liearts of those pupils capable 
of a hio'h emotional tension. Oh, the trao-eclv I 

He puts questions to Xature and receives beautiftil answers, 
but never vields to an outburst of emotion. He is the cool, 
critical attorney with Xattire on the witness stand; and senti- 
ment gone! 

He keeps abreast, it is true, with recent discoveries, and adds 
from time to time to the store of material knowledo-e, but 
awakens no divine impulse in the hearts of others for the at- 
tainment of sticcess in a similar field. Inspiration is worth 
more than facts. 

The symbols, formulas, and hopeless terminology are exceed- 
ingly baffling to the young student of science; and especially 
so, if they fall from the insipid tongue of an automaton for 
a teacher. A purely mathematical process will lead to the dead- 
ening of the emotions, the excitement of which gives power 
to the memory and likewise an immeasurable zest for scientific 
investigation, where even the drudgery of details is a pleas- 



The Poetry of Science. 31 

ure-yielding process. In a lecture on any subject of science it 
is not a waste of time to break away from unscientific methods 
to indulge in the flights of the imagination. The born teacher 
knows that periodic .outbursts into oratory awaken enthusiasm 
in the pupils, and make intellectual discipline in the matter 
of accurate work less a burden. A minute's apostrophe to a 
beautiful and beneficent law in science is worth more to the 
intellect, to say nothing of the soul, than one hour of accurate 
exposition of a scientific truth untouched b}^ the fire of ora- 
torical vehemence. Let him adorn his lectures with occasional 
quotations from literature; and let him own that the orator 
and the poet, or the orator's and poet's minds, first anticipate 
the discoYeries of science and stimulate, if not direct, the scien- 
tific minds of the world. 

We would have the regents and trustees know that they 
make a mistake in giYing employment to men who dio not rec- 
ognize the high educational value in the training of the emo- 
tions. Interest and power, if you would still cling to the 



32 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

practical in the question, are had in a higher degree when the 
emotions are encouraged and Aviselj directed. The test of this 
is in the lecture room. Is the lecturer emotional? Has he the 
enthusiasm of the orator? the vision of the poet? If not, he 
is in the wrong place, and bj all means should be superseded. 
Do not annihilate him, however, but let him seek the congenial 
atmosphere of the Pasteur Institute, or some kindred institu- 
tion, where he can prosecute his studies and turn the results 
of his investigations into the possession of real teachers whose 
influence is inspiring instead of blighting. Let this be the 
first sanitary regulation. 



The great leaders in theology and the ablest thinkers in 
science by mutual concessions, with no loss of dignity on either 
side, have closed the war between Reason and Religion. When 
the war whoop is heard it is known to come from the irreligious 
and the unscientific. 



The Poetry of Science. 33 

Science is unable to answer the ultimate question; religion 
secures the repose of the soul by the divine Credo. 

As in military annals it is no uncommon thing for scouts, 
small detachments, and bands of brigands (the inevitable out- 
growth of turbulent times) to continue the fighting and the 
depredations on life and property for some time after peace is 
declared, so in the controversy between theologists and scien- 
tists there are those who, still ignorant of the treaty between 
the authorities, engage in fruitless battle after the war is closed 
and the main armies are disbanded. Oh, how we deprecate 
such tragedies! 

Let the scouts and brigands be notified that the w^ar is over, 
and that the contending Powers are moving toward complete 
reconciliation and harmony. It is only the small brain that is 
foolhardy enough to invade the province of the spirit in the 
face of the frown of the impregnable strongholds of religion; 
it is only that class of the clergy in extreme ignorance of the 
range of scientific thought, that, mistaking a friend for a foe, 



34 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

makes the fiercest cliarges against science. These madmen of 
the pulpit are vehement in proportion to their ignorance. Let 
the student of Xature know that his theoiy is not the key to 
the universe; let the misguided minister of the gospel feel that 
he is not in exclusive possession of the truth; let both under- 
stand that Science and Eeligion are mutually helpful in the 
progress of the race. 

Your religion, my friend, has received an incalculable im- 
pulse upward from its contact with science. Say so in your 
pulpit, and thereby strengthen your cause. Take this advice, — 
master the subjects of astronomy and geology; go as deep into 
the other branches of science as possible ; enrich your theologic 
lore with accurate illustrations from the realm of exact knowl- 
edge; let your sermons be radiant with intelligent references 
to the moods of Xature; and see, in consequence of this whole- 
some revolution in your habits of thotight, your audiences 
gTow in size and enthusiasm, with your power for good in- 
creased multifold. 



The Poetry of Science. 35 

Are you really iu earnest about seeing the depravity of the 
race decrease? Then increase your candle-power; intensify 
the light of the gospel with the light of science. Both flames 
emanate from the same divine energy. Why hesitate? Why 
stand in doubt? Of what are you afraid? Get wisdom and 
grow courageous. Scatter the darkness with these dual kin- 
dred lights. They are yours; use them with a startling effect. 
By virtue of your profession, you have the splendid opportunity 
of keeping abreast with the modern research and thought, and 
making thereby the first and most powerful application of the 
spiritual truth illuminating every new discovery and invention. 
Then why not do so? Are you aware that an amazing num- 
ber of men and women of more than average intelligence is 
dropping out of your audience? Yes; and it is because a com- 
parative ignoramus fails to command respect and attention 
from the intellectual class. Do you wish to touch the hearts 
of this influential class, and cause them to reinforc-e the work 
in which you are engaged? Of course you do, if you are burning 



36 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

with the clMne fire. It is not impossible to move them from 
the club-room^ the lobby, aud the street. Go after them with 
the magnetism of superior intellectual poles, and draw them 
irresistibly within the overijowering current of your liberal 
thought. With them you shall bring the clinging parasites 
that find lodgment and nourishment in the vigorous trunks of 
their intellectual hosts. Command the hosts, and the para- 
sites are yours also. When the sword of the general is ten- 
dered, this means the surrender of the army. 

On several occasions the author of this small volume has had 
a chance to test the inspiring effect of scientific thought on 
minds of ordinary intelligence, but little acquainted with nat- 
ural science. In his strolls through the woods and fields, and 
along the fishing grounds, he has met groups of strangers, and 
had them ply him with eager questions gTOwing out of his care- 
less reference to the function of a leaf or a flower, to the his- 
tory of a stratum of rock, and so forth. These people had 
their attention arrested by a remark about nature different from 



The Poetry of Science. 37 

what thev were accustomed to, and so tlieir interest was aroused 
at once, and sustained, in ever}^ case, where time permitted, for 
several hours. The sex^aration in each event left them with 
higher notions of the beneficent laws of nature and the wonder- 
ful works of God. If a layman can exert such an influence, 
the preacher, by virtue of his calling, can accomplish even 
more. Compel them to follow you, draw^n by the inspiring 
music and poetry of science, the motif of modern religion. Let 
this be the second sanitary move. Will you help us, dear mes- 
sengers of the gospel, to remove the ugly sign of a wound? 
You can, and still be consistent with your high commission. 



The daughter of the intellect looks for sj'mpathy from still 
another source. The time is not far distant when the appre- 
ciation of the supernal Beauty in every fact of science shall 
be universal. The teachers and the preachers wield a great 
poAver which should go toward giving acceleration to the move- 



38 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

ment leading to the advancement of natural philosophy. To 
their assistance should come the artists in lanouao-e. The re- 
suits of the combined efforts of such a triumvirate would sur- 
pass the dreams of the most sanguine exponents of the reform. 

The chief fault of the literary artists is their infatuation 
for the legends, the myths, and the folk-lore. The charm Avas 
rery strong during the Kenaissance, but since then the num- 
ber of artists appropriating the ancient myths and legends has 
decreased decidedly. Still it is curious to see how many of 
our most illastrious poets cannot resist the temptation to bor- 
row themes from the pagan Greeks, who were the promul- 
gators, not the authors, of the well-known fables. Our most 
beautiful poems, with hardly an exception, are based on myth- 
ology, or are teeming with pagan metaphors, either of which 
shows a literary subservience to paganism unbecoming a race 
of greater intellectual power, and of equal originality in every 
form of art, especially literature. 

When this exotic is transplanted from Greece to English 



The Poetry of Sciexxe, 39 

soil it begins to bloom at once and to enjoy unbounded admira- 
tion. Its beaut}' and fragrance intoxicate the senses, and every 
literary age forces the unfolding of other buds in the hothouse 
of literature. But at length the yitality of this wonderful 
plant decreases, the flowers are less beautiful and less fra- 
grant, and the fruit — the aim and end of every bloom — is abor- 
tive. Sad decree of evolution — the plant is doomed to extinc- 
tion I Yet the form and color shall be preserved for a while 
in petals of cloth and pigments that fade, though the subtle 
aroma — the spirit of the flower — shall be lost ! Why should we 
mourn over the sterile thing? It has served its purpose, and 
now waits to be consigned to its proper place. Oh, take it up 
now, this artificial thing of the past, and place it close-sealed 
in a cabinet of glass for the curious world to observe. We 
have gained all that can be had from the myths. Let us pass 
on to the splendid temi3le of science; it is folly to worship 
longer at this empt}^ shrine. 

Let those who are resolute iio. and others will follow. It 



40 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

is easier, it is true, to follow a path alreadj^ made than to blaze 
one of your own, than to run the risk of difflculties, dangers, 
and, perhaps, death, — literarj^ death — the most lamentable, be- 
cause it means in some cases, the annihilation of a star in the 
firmament of thought. But every successful reform records 
its martyrs. Some sacrifices cannot be avoided. As often as 
you can, when you are disposed to draw an analogy from the 
myths, substitute one from science. This will be a step in the 
right direction. Figures of speech selected from science should 
not impair the force and charm of the composition. If we can 
develop a race as industrious in stimulating and preserving 
in the amber of literature the deep and manifold beauties of 
science as our late and earlier predecessors have been in reani- 
mating the ancient fables, our progress shall be incalculable. 
Now is the time to begin. Your audience does not suffer 
from a paucity of apperceptive centers. Even the homes of 
average culture are in possession of various attractive stories 
of science, the public school readers in every grade are enriched 



The Poetry of Science. 



41 



I 



in a similar Avay, and our magazines are introducing the read- 
ing public as never before to the secrets of material progress. 
Besides, everywhere the public is surrounded by the visible 
forms of scientific thought. The verv tovs of our children 
illustrate principle after j)rinciple explained in the various 
branches of science. Then whv do Ave clino: to the mvths? The 
present generation is more familiar with the vital principles 
of chemistry, pM^sios, astronomy, geology, and so forth, than 
with the absurd and, in some cases, monstrous tales of the 
savage. Your reference to mythology must be explained; and 
even though the metaphor you substitute from science still 
leaves the thought obscure, you have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that the footnote has an intrinsic value. This cannot be 
said of the footnote on the myth. 

If our literature can be made to abound in tropes from 
science, people will begin to think in terms of natural phe- 
nomena, and thus add to the stock of material knowledge. Let 
us blend our literary standards, and watch the results of uni- 



42 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

versal concentration. If the intellectual world represents con- 
current forces, tlie resultant of these must be the development 
of a genius of nnsurpassed ability. Do you think the resolu- 
tions of public assemblies, where the momentum of thoua-ht 
is at its maximum, emanate from the individual draughtsman? 
Is the constitution of the United States the work of one mind? 
Do you think the eloquence of the orator is independent of 
the audience? The effect of what is known as the ^'Group- 
mind" in public assemblies may diminish in intensity when the 
auditorium becomes as vast as the world, but still the effect is 
there, and every thinking mind may be regarded as an electric 
battery reinforcing the thought-current, and sending it around 
the globe. 

The physical and spiritual forces are equal and parallel. 
When this law is not followed it foretells the disease of the 
intellect or the soul. Eight now it appears that the soul is 
sick. If not, why then do we fail to see the supernal Beauty 
of science? The pro1)lem of the thinker ten centuri-es hence 



The Poetry of Science. 43 

will be to account for the disease and lethargy of the soul in 
the t>yentietli century. He will solve it, and I fancy his con- 
tempt for us will be as great as ours for one who sings of the 
nightingale in the land of the mocking-bird. 

Such an innovation as suggested will cause an awful shock 
to the authors and the teachers of rhetoric. But they need 
to be shaken into sensibility and treated with the tonic of vital 
thought. Let them T^T^'ithe and kick and paw and bite; it is 
not so hard to treat sick animals, when the veterinary surgeon 
with his bottle oives the directions and stands readv to admin- 
ister the draught. They suffer from a peculiar disease, a sort 
of cholera. Thev have been touched bv the wand of Circe, and 
driven to "the sty to wallow with their friends". 
''Have mercy, goddess! Circe, feel my prayer!" 
It is right to acknowledge the debt we owe our remote an- 
cestors. Thev have criven us much that is useful and beautiful. 
But while that is true, some of us are inclined to ascribe too 
much to them. 



44 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

Sir Francis Bacon is one of many who has taken the "duc- 
tile matter-' in the fahles and drawn it out to "meanings 
wiiich they never contained". "The Wisdom of the Ancients'' 
he has examined with a microscope. Here is a selection from 
"Pan, or Nature, Explained of Natural Philosophy" : "Pan 
is described by antiquity, with pyramidal horns reaching up 
to heaven, a rough and shaggy body, a very long beard, of a 
jbiform figure, human above, half brute below^, ending in goat's 
feet". After taking up in detail this Pan and showing what 
each thing in the figure represents in thought, which may have 
been or may not have been the thing the ancients wanted to 
convey, he comes to the meaning of the goat's feet. "There 
lies a curious allegory in making Pan goat-footed, on 
account of the motion of ascent which terrestrial bodies have 
towards the air and heavens; for the goat is a clambering 
creature, that delights in climbing up rocks and precipices; and 
in the same manner the matters destined to the lower globe 
strongly affect to rise upwards, as appears from the clouds 



The Poetry of Science. 45 

and meteors." If that tlioiiglit could fl}^ to Westminster iVbbey 
and sweep tlirougli tlie conscious centers in the cerebrum of 
Sir Isaac Newton, he would turn over in his sarcophagus and 
smile. This microscope had an imperfect lens. 

^'Earth outgrows the mythic fancies 
Sung beside her in her youth; 
And thoS'e debonaire romances 
Sound but dull beside the truth. 
Phoebus- chariot course is run! 
Look up, poets, to the sun! 
Pan, Pan is dead." 

The wisdom of the ancients will not do to follow implieitly ; 
there is the danger of the tangle of errors. 

Mr. Coleridge says '^the heart doth need a language", and 
this is the excuse for accepting the "mj^thic fancies". Must 



46 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

we look to our untamed ancestor for a language — rudiments 
and all? It seems so. Beliold the superb author of dreams 
and visions! There he stands, — a shaggy sayage, naked, wild, 
beast-like, with but a dim spark of divinity in him. Beyond 
the cliff he- mounts in the gloaming, lies the ocean wrapped 
in profound mystery and wasting its immeasurable energy 
against the crumbling shores; behind him the mountains and 
undulating plains set with lakes, traversed by streams, peopled 
with animals, clothed with vegetation, stocked with min- 
erals, filled with unspeakable terrors and dangers, swept 
with storms, floods, and fire, sublime and beautiful withal, 
deliver their wondrous message to his soul. He makes 
the interpretation and pre]oares the ''language" for the heart 
of the civilized poet of the twentieth century ! The moon and 
stars, the splendor of the sun, *the poem of the flower, the voice 
of thunder, the sj)irits of the lightning, the earthquake, and 
the volcano — ^all, all the familiar objects and forces of nature, 
passing in review before this antediluvian prince of poetry. 



The Poetry of Science. 47 

are classed as demons and divinities. The records are left to 
enlighten the modern poet on the subject of the source of human 
weal and woe! The civilized mendicant takes the '^language", 
as a shiftless tramp a suit of clothes from his benefactor, 
and wears it, without a change, until it is threadbare and 
rotten. 

Again, the mvths are said to give unlimited range for the 
imagination ; while science has been called by Mr. Poe a ^^Vul- 
ture, whose wings are dull realities'', and its delight is in prey- 
ing upon the hearts of poets. So wide-spread is this opinion 
that when one advances a thought that is scientific one makes 
an apology to the audience for doing so. On the contrary, the 
flush of pride should sweep the face in having the opportunity 
to discuss a principle of science ! That science is ^^duU", is the 
claim of ignorance! The charge is libelous, and every lover 
of science should rush to her defense. 

Those tiny grooves in that magic cylinder of wax, frozen 
ripples on the stream of sound blown up by the melodious 



48 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

breatli of a Prima Donna, cannot stir the emotions? That 
arc-light which flashes up in the dark sends a thrill to the finger 
tips of the long arms of Space, and why not the thought to 
the heart? Each shifting pebble changes the center of gravity 
of the Universe, and does not the knowledge change the equi- 
librium of the soul, and so affect the very throne of God? 
That morsel of food whirled through the organs of digestion 
is transformed into nervous energy and projected as a dynamo, 
a Brookl^^n bridge, a theory of germs and disease, or a code of 
morals! Does not this transformation of matter and energy, 
the wondrous forces of life and death, furnish the source of 
supreme reflection and consequent, keen delight? Every fact 
of science is a love-note from God. The responsive soul is the 
sweetheart for whom the message is intended. 



But, does not the widening of the range of exact knowledge 
increase the dangers of materialism? That is another phantom 



The Poetry of Science. 



49 



of ignorance. Think jon, that band of iridescent colors in the 
sky, that precious pledge between God and man, that rich and 
glorious field of romance for childhood's imagination, that 
miracle of sunbeams and raindrops^^ — ^^the rainbow — loses a whit 
of poetic charm and reverence-inspiring power when riper 
experience s-ees it as merely the refraction and reflection of 
sunlight? On the contrary, a lovelier divinity radiates from it, 
constraining a love far deeper and a worship more devout. 

The incipient light of truth that darts through an emotional 
heart under the spell of natural beauty travels on to strike 
eventually the analytic stage of life, and then, perforce, bursts 
into colors of exquisite hues, forming the splendid background 
for religious devotion. This superb light moves on unseen 
until it strikes an object. It falls upon the specimens of the 
anatomist, and when he examines the scales of the butterfly's 
wings revealing their transparency and assigning as the cause 
of their beautiful tints the phenomenon of refraction, this light 
penetrates his heart and calls him to worship. The everlast- 



50 The D£t\ drop's Soul. 

ing halo is present when the naturalist discovers the air sacs 
which give lightness and buoyancy to the birds, when he sees 
that the fertile soil owes its richness to the chemical chano-es 
in the body of the earthworm, when he gets a deeper signifi- 
cance from the odor and color of flowers and apprehends the 
relation between insects and plants, and also when he under- 
stands that the oyster in btiilding its palace of shell and pearl, 
and the coral polyp in constructing its rock-island home, put 
motion into the mighty waters of the sea, which affects the 
climate of the world and determines the seat of empires! In 
a word, whatever he investigates conjures up this divine radi- 
ance which was born with him and so brings him to love that 
Spirit which is the fountain of all truth. The profound thinker 
lifts the sacred veil to behold and to feel the penetrating rays 
of this supernal light which suffuses everything from the atom 
to the star. 



The Poetry of Science. 



51 . 



Have YOU heard the wail of the waves and Avinds? 
Did you dwell for long on the solemn song? 
Transplanting the soul where the billows roll 
Into higher zones, into purer tones? 
The rhythmic motion of ocean and air 
Has a sweep as deep as the dome of blue, 
That stretches beyond the limit of stars, 
Those heavenly lights, God's musical bars. 



The Dark Ages are gone ! The ban of the church is removed ; 
the curse and the blight of bigotry are no longer feared; and 
legalized, murderous inquisitors, thank heaven! may not now, 
or ever again, lay violent hands on science! O teacher of 
science, thou art on the brink of an ocean of beauty, plunge, 
then, into the refreshing surf! O pulpit orator, thou art the 
phmet to the double-stars — Science and Religion, — ^bear witness 
tfO their light I O poet, behold! the centuries of progress have 



52 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

brouglit thee to the very center of a measureless galaxv of 
supernal orbs, so unfold to the world rhe splendor of thy eu- 
Yironnientl Teacher, preacher, poet, why not recognize the 
Supernal Beautv of Science? 



Those who hold the doctrine of Evolution are hy no means 
ignorant of the uncertalntjj of tJteir data, and tliey yield to it a 
provisional assent. TJiey regard the nehular hypothesis as proh- 
qhle, and, in the utter absence of any evidence to prove the act 
illegal, tliey e-rtend tlie method of nature from tlie present into 
the past. Here the observed n.niformity of nature is tlieir only 
guide. lYithin tlie long range of physical inquiry tlicy have 
never di><cerned in nature the insertion of caprice. Throughout 
this range the laurs of physical and intellectual continuity have 
run side by side. Having thus determined tlie elements of their 
curve in a u:orld of observation and experiment, tliey prolong 
that curve into an. antecedent world, and accept as probable tlie 



The Poetry of Scienxe. 



53 



iiiihrol-cii sequence of development from the nehiilar to the pres- 
ent time. You never hear tlw reaJhj pjhilosophical defenders of 
the docirine of Uniformity speal^incj of imjwssihiUties in na- 
ture. They never say, what they are constantly charged icith 
saying, that it is inipossihle for the Builder of the universe to 
alter Eis icork. Their business is not icith the possible, hut 
the actual — not toith a world tvhich might he^ hut with a world 
that is. This they explore with a courage not unmixed mth 
reverence, and according to methods which, lilxC the quality of 
a tree, are tested hy their fruits. They have hut one desire — 
to I' no to the truth. They have hut one fear — to helieve a lie. — 
TyndalVs Fragments of Science. 



THE DEWDROP'S SOUL 



56 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



BOOK I. 



The Molten Earth — The Fire and Water Strife. 



Argument : The earth stands on tiptoe to greet the expectant 
dawn. A poet, enamoured of Xature and the morning air, is 
wandering through the woods just before the last stars vanish 
behind the growing haze of blue. On the brink of a small 
stream that reflects at noontide only accidental patches of 
sunlight darting through the heavy foliage of the vines, the 
tree-branches, and clustered shrubbery, this poet pauses. 

He is arrested by the beautiful sight of a dewdrop clinging 
to a leaf and rocking to and fro in its improvised cradle, gently 
swung by the invisible touch of the mother air. The sight of 
the exquisite natural beauty causes the first flash of inspira- 
tion; and here his poetic fire, kindled and blazing, burns on 



The Poetry of Science. 57 

as he imagines the manifold experiences of the inanimate drop 
of water. 

He gives to this sparkling pearl a spirit, or a soul, and listens 
entranced to the mute eloquence as it flows, like memory-music, 
from tills little dewdrop's heart. A wonderful story the dew- 
drop tells, full of pathos and hope, drawn from world-shaking 
events ! 

The poet is made to see through direct and indirect discourse 
the marvelous preparation of the earth for the advent of man, 
with his triumphs in reason. The story begins with the earth 
after it was thrown off from the sun, but at the time when it 
was still in an intensely heated state. Indeed, at the time 
when all the water that now supplies our rivers, lakes, and 
seas, was suspended in the air, no more capable of remaining 
on the flame-racked globe than a drop of water on a red-hot 
stove. (The figure is not stretched; in mathematics the ratio 
is about the same.) 

The poet hears the tragic recital of the struggles between 



58 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 



the fire and the water; and is assured that the wild-resisting 
flames must at last succumb. (The universal and quick-suc- 
ceeding onslaughts of the water lift with each successive evap- 
oration a vast amount of heat, that is dissipated into space 
when the up-shot vapor condenses in preparation for another 
fall. That evaporation produces a cooling effect, is a well- 
known fact, and is the basis of our artificial ice-industries in 
climates where Nature does not furnish an abundant harvest 
of suitable ice.) 

The story holds him s|pell-bound, inflames his soul, and 
instills in him the hope of divining the heavenly scheme of 
creation. And over all this tumultuous roar of battles be- 
tween the two elements, fire and water, astounding him with 
their stupendous forces and titanic attacks, the deep-pervad- 
ing, harmonious notes of faith in the divine scheme of the uni- 
verse, are ringing in his ears like the chimes of churches above 
the thunderous and maddening rush of mobs through the streets 
of a woe-stricken city. 



The Poetry of Science. 59 

(1) 

A little drop of water springing from the sea, 

Is lifted by tlie wind and borne across the lea; 

A beam of heat in loving gentleness supplies 

A pair of lightest wings with which it swiftly flies 

Beyond the booming tide where restless waves, confined 

In walls of shores, still moan as prisoners, though combined 

In league with sun and moon and storm, that triple band 

Whose matchless forces are the grandest of the grand. 

(2) 
This crystal drop of water rises, floats, and sinks, 
Descending Ioav, and lower, to the very brinks 
Of starlit streams and shell-laid strands of dreamy lakes ; 
And resting now on trembling leaf by edge of brakes. 
Is waiting there to greet the morn; but here the gaze 
Of amorous man whose joyous heart throws out a blaze 
Of rapturous love for beauty fresh from azure isles, 
Attracts the silvery dewdrop, which, though blushing, smiles 



60 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(3) 
*To catch the glow of loye that leaps into that face 
Inspired with thought which, in a moment, sweeps apace 
The rarest realm of ever rich, enchanted scenes, 
And brings to light and life and form the truth it gleans 
From rapid transit throtigh a world of happy dreams 
And Tisions glowing with the bright, reflected beams 

From the evanescent pearl, 

There waiting to unfurl 
Its air-T winces for flight : and tells its stoTT. wild 



;ee Appendix. 



The Poetry of Science. 61 

(4) 
And weird, to one as pure, or naive as a cliild : — 
"A billion* years ago a pilgrim, small but bold, 
Besought the earth, but met disasters so untold 
In drawing near its faintly looming, destined goal, 
That years on years it swung betwixt the land and sky 
Unable to advance, for surging flames as high 
As eagles soar sent tongues of fire so blue with rage 
That ghastly fear oppressed the wanderer for an age. 



* Since the discoveiy of radium the geologist and the physicist, particularly the 
physicist, believe that a billion years have passed since the earth threw off the moon. 



62 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(5) 
'^Advance in the dread face of brimstone fires? Oh, never! 
Caught in the clutches of the demon of the flames — 
Alas! This pilgrim would have been cut off forever 
In its eternal march through Time and struck from Fame's 
Eoster — an utterly dismembered dewdrop soul ! 
But danger was averted : under the control 
Of laws that would not let the wanderer come too near 
The heat its life was saved from death j^ear after year.'' 

(6) 
Sublime and awful is it then — this scene on earth: 
"There in the throes of travail she is giving birth 
To Nature, destined to become the loving nurse 
Of man ; and out of her sweet breast, a bounteous burse, 
To yield the food for diverse live, reflecting grace 
And prescient wisdom of the God of every race, 
Causing in after years the solemn homily 
And contrite prayers for joyful immortality. 



The Poetry of Science. 



63 



(T) 
"Terrific cyclones sweep this mundane sphere, and down, 
On-rushing, fall the wildest floods of water, as immense 
And deep as ocean caves sustain ; but flood on flood 
Is driven back into the atmosphere, as dense 

And dark as blackest night, 

When thunderstorms affright 

These mortals here below. 

Ah! what a fearful fight 
Between these stubborn foes, in their death-clutches, dire,- 
Enraged ! this world of water and that sea of fire. 



64 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(8) 
^'Tliis world-wide struggle is the first in history 
Encouraged for the glory of humanity, 
Remote and sleeping in the womb throughout this strife, 
Awaiting patiently the touch and thrill of life. 



This liquid air keeps rolling round the flaming globe, 
And, like a fljing squadron, dr-eadful in her robe 
Of black, relentlessly assails the fiery ports, 

Eegarding not 

Incessant shot 

From raging forts. 



The Poetry of Science. 65 

(9) 

"The human cause 

Throughout these wars 

Is a deep clesigu, 
That, shiuing monumental in its glorious light, 
Reveals a God Avliose works are bounteous and benign. 

Strike! tempestuous fire! Oh, hurl your lashing flames! 
A God commands this water-fleet 

And knows defeat 
Awaits jour wild-resisting powers. 
Your booming mounts 
Are cannons all, but know 
They are as harmless founts 

Arrayed against a foe 
Repelling blow on blow. 



66 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(10) 
^^Down I and down again, these swift-winged vessels swoop ! 
With each successiYe, rapid, sudden sweep, they scoop 
Up charge on charge of latent heat, and with a pause, 
They swing around and make a bound for gaping jaws 
Of interplanetary space — that exile home 
To which the captives caught in war are flung to roam. 
Doomed ! For ages and for ages doleful gloom 
Abides; and midnight darkness* spreads its boundless room. 



* It is demonstrated that the blue of the sky is due to the dark background of inter- 
stellar space. 



The Poetry of Science. 



67 



(11) 
t^'Tliis sliOTeless gulf of smoke and blaze is noAv defaced, 
And, like the shameful shams of consciences debased, 
Submits at last to that inexorable fate 
That crushes sin and, likewise, its sj^mbolic mate. 

But hear, O deathless soul ! 

That sea of fire, extol! 
It had a purpose in the plans of King of hosts; 
And once its strength and usefulness were uppermost. 
As also universal sin and crime and woe."* 



See Hegel's "Philosophy of History. ' 
See stanzas 33 and 34. 



68 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(12) 
Upon lier dimly lighted throne Alhision reigns. 
And Fancy — shinino- off.^prino' of the soul — still deions 
To kiss her brow and kneel before her altar lights; 
And throitgh the ftimes of incense — holy rites — 
There gleam the beams, in iridescent hues, of truths 
Which often moye the heart to rise and fall as swells 
On which delight and dole in strangest ebb and flow 
Appear : and Destiny rings out her solemn bells. 



Note — This stanza indicates the purpose of the author to stay -within the range 
of scientific truth, or to temper the imagination -with facts. 



The Poetry of Science. 69 



BOOK 11. 

Philosophic Reflections. 

Arg'ument : Here the poet is guided by the light of iiitro- 
spection. The archaic storms appeal to his mood and furnish 
analogies in his philosophic reflections. The philosopher sees 
the '^soul of goodness in things evil", and recognizes that the 
foundation for spiritual and temporal happiness among men 
lies in the symbol of the church and the flag of the nation ; and 
that these have a different meaning, as ideals in religion and 
government change; that neither creeds nor constitutions are 
immutable. He reaches the conclusion that Religion, Science, 
and Philosophy shall ultimately agree. 

The argument is offered in defense of the claim that we are 
guided by a divine spirit that controls our mentality as a hyp- 
notist his subject. 



70 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

The observations and efforts of scientists are shown to be 
earnest and trustworthy; and each step is a stone added to 
the superstriictnre, giving ever-broadening liorizons as the work 
continues. And, lastly, the soul is considered as a harp of 
countless strings capable of reproducing the thought vibra- 
tions of the Creator Himself Avhen undisturbed b}^ the deaden- 
ing effect of a sensual life. 



The Poetry of Science. 71 



(13) 

This pauoramic storm ou fire-scorclied, wave-washed world 
Is grand, but grander still are human thoughts when whirled 
With scenic-sj)lendor through the enlivened, quickened brain 
Where apperceptive links unite that ganglion-chain 
'Long which — Oh, wonderful I — such pictures flash amain 
As correspond at once to his reflective strain, 

Who grasps external views 

To give to them the hues 

Of thought which he pursues. 

Or passionately woos. 



72 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(14) 

Imagination sees the fiercest thunderbolts, 

With flashing swiftness, sweeping through and through 

Those charging shij)S, and rending tliem from stern to prow ; 

And science sees the spectacle, and knows just how 

Disintegration works her charm on ship and crew, 

Transforming both into the fiercest hosts of flames — 

A disaffection like that which still clings to names 

Of traitors who have sought to crush their countries' claims. 

(15) 
And then philosophy turns on her searchlight sheen. 
Disclosing deep and wondrous thoughts that pass unseen 
By those that dwell apart from metapihTsics' realm. 
She sees analogies that rise and overwhelm 
The sentient world with limpid waves from psychic streams ; 
She hears a voice pronouncing Benediction's prayer 
Through bloody revolution's woes and piteous screams, 
And knows that Spirit-light shall send her golden beams. 



The Poetry of Sciexce. 

(10) 
She gazes doAvn into this life's alembic, where 
Distill the poison drops of sin, and over there 
She watches, while the silent and the wicked wiles 
Of Satan strike unguarded souls caught in defiles 
Too narrow for escape, and sees a change complete 
Come over them, such as befalls the water-fleet 
When swift electric currents roll from pole to pole 
And tear apart the elements as sin tears the soul. 

(IT) 
They sweep along — these noiseless electrolvses. 
Disintegrating human hearts and polities. 
That stand exposed to ruin. Philosophy divines 
Their fall, believing, though, trancendent light still shines 
From heaven's throne to guide the State to higher zones. 
To fill the heart ^^'ith praise and cause the sweetest tones 
Of Hope to flow from God who gives a right for wrong, 
A light for shade, a joy for pain, a calm for storm. 



74 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(18) 
Upon these ruins a mystic architectural skill, 
Interpreting the plans of a deep, mysterious Will, 
Projects His thoughts and lifts on high those cherished forms 
That, buffeting for centuries the blasts of stoi^ms. 
Wave on as symbols^ — dual guides of states and souls — 
(At least until compelled to take on higher roles) 
Throu;>ili which, indeed, all men, except the wretched craAen, 
Shall find their temporal freedom and their spiritual haven. 

(19) 
Above primordial din and through archaic night 
We hear the shout of "PHOGEESS" and behold that LIGHT, 
Self-luminous, supernal, everlasting, bright. 
Which shoots its quickening darts through living, breathing clay 
And gives unto uplifting powers resistless sway. 
O Principle of Life! O sweet Divinity! 
Do join the hearts of our discordant trinity! 
Unite Keligion, Science, and Philosophy. 



The Poetry of Science. 76 

(20) 

How beautiful this prayer ! 

So pure, so debonair, 
The amorous lover ! Gaze into the« deA\ drop's soul, 
Enquiring- heart, and read, as on a stainless scroll, 
Your answer, which in lines of gold is written there: 
"On gilded throne shall sit the great Triumvirate 
In power — Keligion, Science, and Philosophy — 
United now, and striving hard to estimate 
Its utmost depths — 'Unfathomable Mystery' ''.* 



See Spencer's "First Principles." 



76 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(21) 
Now^ Master Hypnotist, apply thy matcliless charm; 
We craye the soporific spell, and feel that harm 
Can not intrnde upon diyine, ethereal calm — 
The wish of One who frees His subjects from alarm. 
Our reason teaches us that faith in Thee is based 
On centuries of tests which we haye wisely traced, 
To find behind this life of yaried ease and stress 
A Spirit-force that rules the world of consciousness. 



The Poetry of Science. 77 

(22) 

Its lines, unseeu, sweep through a realm we call inane, 
And thread the hemispheres of every human brain. 
Uniting all as Avitli an endless, neural chain, 
And bearing messages in essence quite the same 
To savage breasts and hearts of men enjoying fame. 
In moments rational, do men pronounce ^'serene" 
The rushing rapids? Or describe a mountain scene 
As stretches of a plain? 
Or think the land the main? 



78 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(23) 
Whence come the effects 
Of uniform identity? 
All intellects 
Display the same propensity. 
Could this be true should a wild capricious hypnotism 
Direct our minds, and make us call a square a prism? 
A chi]> of ice, a coal of fire? the breath of rose, 
A noisome odor so offensive to the nose? 
Or drops of sweetest nectar, bearing alum-taste? 
And deafening sounds, as still as from a vacuum-waste? 



The Poetry of Sciexce. 79 

(24) 

That niiiiiberless illusions liover round us still, 

Is meet ; the deep design that moves His sovereign Will 

Is like the Galilean Star that leads the wise 

In search of it — the goal that lies bej'ond the skies. 

Discoveries of natural laws are oradients 

By which we rise into that higher radiance. 

Each line we read of Nature's poem must needs elate us 

As this adjusts our lives to the sublime efflatus. 



80 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(25) 
Illusions die, and superstitious views decline 
As human insiglit scans the poetry line for line. 
With deeper reverence and love are we imbued 
When with resistless trend these wonders are pursued 
And forced to yield the thought with which they are imbrued. 
O Prince of Light, how far from thj exalted shrine 
Are we removed? That brilliant jewel-case of thine! 

Can mortal sight, 

As 3'et, stand light 

So splendent bright? 



The Poetry of Science. 81 

(26) 
Behold, we are spending mental strength to raise a tower, 
Kot for avoiding watery graves, but for a higher 
And broader range of view within the boundless deep. 
O joy ! each stone we lay commands a wider sweep ! 
Now that confusion of our tongues may not destroy 
Our sanguine hopes, we are very careful to employ 
Those terms that are exact, expressing just the phase 
O'f thought we find in Nature's Poetry, phrase for phrase! 



82 The De\vdrop"s Soul. 

(27) 
How liigh shall Babel rise 
Before we reach the skies 
To touch most loYiiigly the firmament of blue, 
To thrill with kisses from the beautiful and true? 
Oh, let the ctirtain roll 
Back on its shining pole! 
Here stand, immortal souls 
HoiDing that its bright folds, 
As clouds in parting cause the darting beam of light 
To reach its earthly home, 
May part, so throtigh Heaven's dome 
May shoot the God-oiven oieam, ''RealitT Unseen''. 



The Poetry of Science. 



83 



(28) 

A light ineffable surrounds each sentient being, 

Corona-like,* its glory lives without our seeing 

Its beauteous colors circling round us — swinging far- 

As far as similar light around a burning star. 

O soul, while whirling round thy limitless ellipse, 

Withdraw thy senses all into a full eclipse, 

To see this halo and to feel the ecstatic trance 

That comes, thy life to lift, thy prospects to enhance. 



See "Solar Eclipses" in any astronomy. 



84 " The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(29) 
In every human lieart are strnng Aeolian strings, 
In number, countless as the songs the Master sings; 
And every chord responds to waves alike its own 
In length,* repeating heavenly music tone for tone, 
And seizing transcendental thought as it is borne, 
A pure, resplendent visitant from round the throne 
Eternal, when, forsooth, it shuns the sensual thumb — 
The fatal touch which strikes the Thought and Music dumb. 



Consult any physics on "Sound." 



The Poetry of Science. 85 

(30) 
Let go those striugs, dear heart, if joii would hear them quiver 
In marvelous toues — the echoes of that rhythmic River 
Of Life. O human orchestra, you flow in vain — 
Its royal life is lost, it dies, the entrancing strain — 
Whenever vulgar fingers touch the magic keys, 
And break the currents of sublimest melodies 
Whose ripples, kissing eyelids of this ''Yale of Tears^', 
Would fill the soul with light born of empyreal spheres. 

(31) 
Oh, let the silver streams of thought their shores o'erswell, 
And check those impious voices that would break the spell 
In which sonorous souls respond to harmonies 
Arising from celestial bands and choruses. 
Through rift in hazy thoughts divine effulgence breaks, 
A blaze of light, and through Reflection's pores it shakes 
Its startling beams, and as from sleej) the heart awakes 
To gaze on truth — to sjjring from darkness and mistakes. 



86 The Devvdrop's Soul. 



BOOK III. 

The Final Battle, and Initial Results of Peace. 

Argument : The poet emerges from the labyrinthine wind- 
ings of introspection and the mystic chambers of philosophy 
and religion to find himself still standing in the presence of the 
immaculate messenger that has come down the ages through 
the strangest climes apparently for the purpose of this heart 
to heart communion with a human soul. He is made to hear 
the continuation of the dewdrop's narrative, which was lost 
sight of for a moment or so during the high-tide of reflection. 
He recovers the thread of the story just in time to hear the 
account of the decisive battle between the long-standing 
enemies, fire and water. He is made to see the hollow ocean 
caves filled with the Avaves that have fought so long for this 
home of comparative repose. So vivid and thrilling is the mes- 



The Poetry of Science. 87 

sage of the eye-Avitness describing the wild drama, that he 
is brought, it seems, within sound of the voice of the su- 
preme Commander leading the victorious forces to a final 
assault; and also within range of that Voice when the grand 
fiat 'Teace'' is pronounced! 



88 The Dewdrop's Soul 



(32) 
*Tlioii sparkling gem, electrifying are thj blnslies 
As to thy crystal soul the gladsome sunbeam rashes 
To feel the flush of gorgeous life unknown before. 
The enamoured heart that studies long thy winsome face 
Shall find thy soul containing bounds of Time and Space, 
And whatsoever else of deep and hidden lore. 
Gaze on, enraptured heart, oh, read the dewdrop's story; 
Thy life is there in secret, as the sunbeam's glory. 



* See stanzas 64 and 65. 



The Poetry of Science. 89 

(33) 

^'Tliis last assault, for grandeur, is unijaralleled I 
The ponderous Avater, by resistless force impelled, 

Xow strikes its final bloAv ! 

The fire, with murderous scowl, 

Assails its desperate foe I 

They clash! The wildest howl 
Ensues I as when o-igantic armies rush together 
With points of steel, or when grim death arrives to sever 
The soul and body of a giant fiend who raves 
And roars with lungs as of ten thousand hoAvling knaves. 



90 The Det\t)Rop's Soul. 

''But see ! a flag of truce, respleudent- white, is raised I 
O jojl O liope! Then let Almighty God be praised — 
The war is closed .' This fire and water strife is o>r ! 
As soldiers, waving furloughs, give a joyous shout 
At thought of home; so waves, in their victorious rout, 
Plunge down the hills, and dance upon the deep sea-floor I 
Anon, this wild, uproarious revelry shall break. 
And to the useful arts of peace these waves shall take. 

(35) 
"Behold ! the fluid air now takes a gaseous form ; 
The sable mantle the earth has worn so long is cast ; 
A gloomy darkness still abounds, but not so vastj 
The sunlight glimmers dim — thougli exceeding dim. The dawn 
Of cloudless skies in dubious prophecy — not despair — 
Is coming! Sunless days and starless nights in prayer 
Exhibit hope, — a hope akin to that which shines 
In hearts cast in celestial moulds. All hope divines I- ^ 



The Poetry of Science. 91 



BOOK IV. 

Ax Obvious Evidence of Law Instead of Chaos; and Inti- 
mation OF Ocean Currents. 

Argument : Wind is defined as ^^air in motion'\ It is caused 
by the unequal distribution of heat and moisture in the atmos- 
phere; and is Nature's everlasting effort to secure an equilib- 
rium in this gaseous medium. V^e cannot properly speak of 
wind as existing before the ocean waters found their natural 
place. So no^^' the work of waves and winds is referred to 
for the first time in terrestrial economv. There is no such 
thing as the modern general circulation of the air, but the in- 
estimabl-e service of Avinds here begins; and with incessant 
floods, erosion, and deposit, the building of mountains and con- 
tinents is commenced. The land masses change an unknown 



92 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

number of times, and are iu the eml far remoyed from any 
resemblance to the present relief forms. 

The ocean currents have just begun but are not clearly 
defined. 



The Poetry of Science. 93 



(36) 
''Aud there! the winds begiu their life of ceaseless toil; 
And water-Avaves, bold engineers, prepare a soil 
For sowing of organic life. Gigantic scheme! 
Till now which wa^^ the air would moA'e no one could tell ; 
The Avinds in skirmishes are hurled headlong to quell 
Volcanic outbreaks; and inconstant though they seem, 
The}^ move obedient to irrevocable law, 
And so forever, changing now with the earth's Siee-saA^^* 



* See a discussion of "Periodic Winds" in a physical geography; and also "Crust 
Movements". 



94 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(37) 
^'Tlie wet-monsoon — millennial sea-breeze — drenches land; 
The erosive force the hardest mountains can not stand, 

So down, a mass of sand, 

The J roll into the sea; 
And others rise to culmination, then decline. 
And pass beneath the surf for waves to undermine. 
O change! eternal, violent change! sublime decree! 
When mountains, emblems of enduring strength, shall yield, 
Then change attacks all things; and pierces every shield! 



The Poetry of Science. 95 

(38) 
^'For eons metamorphic mountains rise and fall, 
And igneous rocks are crushed and ground to fragments small. 
The winds, the waves, and fires, though void of living form, 
Yet make a. tireless trio, most skillful architects 
And builders of the continents. The mountains next 
The shore are placed, as sea-walls raised in case of storm. 
Then salt, arriving slowly, stirs* stupendous pool 
In giving birth to ocean currents, warm and cool." 



See ''Ocean Currents " in a physical geography. 



96 . The Dewdrop's Soul. 



; BOOK V. 

The Earth Receives Celestial Lights. 

Argument: Intimation is given of the coming of life on the 
globe. The dewdrop passes through the long and gloomy ages 
of vast preparation, and divines the meaning, as far-reaching 
changes appear one after another. Here light of stars, moon, 
and sun, breaks through the hitherto universal and impenetrable 
mantle of clouds, — a benediction — jea, a prophec}^ of higher 
things. 



The Poetry of Scienxe. 97 

(39) 
^'Tlie dead, dumb earth, this floating palace, dimly looming 
In cloud-Avreathed majesty, impetuously is booming [seems, 
Towards change — ascendant, potent, maryelous change — and 
In paramount expectancy, to wait the stroke 
Which turns insensate matter into life, whose fires 
Of energy, inherent and dynamic, shall 
Attack opposing piles of obstacles and burn 
AVitli wondrous power, evoking awe along with praise. 

(40) 
^'The sullen darkness still abounds, but not so vast! 
The sunless days and starless nights shall soon be past I — • 
Eejoice ! benighted world, rejoice ! They pass, tlie3^ pass — 
Those pristine years, millennial years, o'ercast with gloom — 
And lo ! sweet light and shade, sidereal bride and groom, 
T\lth outstretched arms and clasped hands enclosing mass 
Of star-kissed, sun-bathed, world-encircling clouds, rush down^ 
Embrace the earth, and place on her their double crown. 



98 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(41) 
"Beyond the dawn-and-twilight-bancl tliat Avhirls around 
Her queenly brow, this donble crown without a bound 
Extends.* In one half shines that brilliant stone, the sun; 

In the other flash 
Innumerable gems, the stars, 
(Here meteors dash. 
And comets draw their fiery cars) 
While through them both there threads a silver disc, the moon, 
This crown of day, this crown of night, this duple crown. 
Exalts the scheme of worlds and gives our queen renown." 



* Of course the shadow of the earth is conical, hence limited; but the shadow passes 
beyond our atmosphere into the region of the darkness of space, so the figure is not far from 
accurate. 



The Poetry of Science. 99 

(42) 

Exalts the scheme of worlds! O ecstasy divine, 

Distilled from dcAvdrop eloquence! This perfume, thine, 

The poet-soul inhales as spirit-lifting air. 

And there! behold, he stands transfigured! there, for there 

He sees the dewdrop, blushing, kiss the lips of dawn; [drawn. 

And listening, wonders whence those streams of thought are 

He hears their murmur, rides their waves o'er boundless zones, 

And strives to knoAv the Author of their rhythmic tones. 

(43) 
From thee, O dewdrop-soul, celestial wisdom gleams. 
Superbly grand, those flashes, wonderful as dreams! 
And thou, O world-bound pilgrim, fel'st the dearth of light 
Before the sunbeams freed the dismal earth from night? 
What wealth of intuition must have bought thee hope ! 
What visions must have circled round thy horoscope! 
Prophetic insight must have taught thee patient waiting, 
So long those earth-embracing clouds were separating. 



100 The Dewdrop's Soul. 



BOOK VI. 

The Bieth of Terrestrial Magnetism. 

Argument : It is generallT believed that lieat and ligiit travel 
along the impalpable medium, ether. Before the solid earth 
came out from the impervious shadow of primordal clouds, 
the heat and light rays were arrested in the air, unable to 
touch the solid form of the benighted world. However, the 
moment when the clouds were dispersed, the heat struck the 
earth and swept around her immediate crust, and forthwith de- 
termined the approximate positions of the magnetic poles. The 
process is analogous to a case quite familiar to most of us who 
make no pretension to a wide knowledge of electrical phenom- 
ena; namely, when a bar of iron is placed in a coil of Avire 
through Avhich a current of electricity is flowing it is straiglit- 
wav transformed into a mao-net. The rotation of the earth 



The Poetry of Science. lUl 

on its axis produces the effect of the sunlight's flowing around 
the globe with a s^^eed equal to that of rotation. The result 
is terrestrial magnetism. 

The poet, still hearkening to the sweet voice of the diewdrop, 
allows his imagination to flv like a comet throuo-h the sky of 
scientific thought. He is moved to exultation in contemplating 
that power of Mind that glances along the arc of eternity em- 
bracing millions of years — though a mere point in the vast cir- 
cumference of Time — and sees in all its intricacy and wonder 
the navigation of the sea, Avith the accompanying moulding 
of thought and uplifting of life. Sublime foresight and grace 
of the supreme electrical Engineer! 



102 The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(44) 
Oh, give the imagination range of infinite sweep, 
And lo ! snch wondrous visions rise I O'er land and deep 
Behold the niYi'iad-threaded coil of ether wire 
Is stretched, and round it dashes that electric fire 
Which springs with sunlight swiftness for its silver goal, 
The moment when the sun makes good the gateway toll, 
And, whirling, speeds with startling rate from pole to pole; 
And Ah ! a miracle ! our earth becomes a magnet. 



Note — Most texts on physical geograohy (Ual -with the phenomena of terrestrial 
magnetism without the cause, which is unknown. 



The Poetry of Science. 103 

(45) 

Look! behind tlie screen of years not jet unrolled 
What panoramic views unfold and still unfold ! 
Those woven- winged birds that skim the ocean stream 
And huge Leviathans that breathe the breath of steam 

And swim the sea 

Unerringly 
From shore to shore, 
Disdaining storms and mocking ocean's wildest roar — 
Great God ! all these, and more, 
Were there in embr^'O 
E'en then — if not before 
This magnetism's flow! 



104 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(46) 
Vast commerce, gTOAviiig', ever growing, never sloAving 
Her pace, and culture sowing, deep, magnificent sowing 
For rarest blossoms bloAvino- — all of tliv bestowino:, 
O magnetism! Vital fluid, flowing, flowing, 
Forever flowing, mark tlie coming and the going. 
The sailing and the rowing, and the consort-towing 
Of countless vessels OAving thee — ^^there is no knowing 
How much — ^for showing them the waj through pathless sea. 



The Poetry of Science. 105 

(47) 
Thou art the arterial system of remotest marts, — 
Thy throbbing pulse this poet feels, 
(As roral dawn 
Is bordering on 
Transition to a full-blown morn), 
Having the rarest insight of responsive hearts! 



How vision after vision — ancient scenes — unroll 
Before this zealous eye which scans the dewdrop's scroll ; 
Distinct and beautiful each deep-cut letter shines; 
He reads and worships there before archaean shrines. 



106 The Dewdrop's Soul. 



BOOK TIL 

TviiE Origin and Work of Winds — The Beginning of thti 
General Circulation of the Air. 

Argument: The poet listens and sees witli the scientific use 
of the imagination the gradual cooling of the crust of the earth. 
The land is still hot and warmer than the sea, but with contin- 
ual cooling must eyentually reach a temperature that is the 
same as the water. This would produc-e a universal calm, 
though momentary; and thus the poet forms the conclusion 
that this lull immediately preceded the general circulation of 
the air with our modern polar and equatorial winds resulting 
therefrom. We have now the origin of the northeast and south- 
east trades, the counter trades, the variable winds, and the 
polar winds in a restricted sense. 

The offices of the winds are the same then as now; that is. 



The Poetry of Science. 107 

they distribute heat and moisture over the earth, keep the ele- 
ments mixed, and cause indirectly not only the aeration of the 
&ea, but also tlie impregnation of its waters with salts of various 
kinds, more especially our common salt; and determine in a 
measure the direction of the ocean currents. The salt aids 
merely in keeping up a constant want of equilibrium in the 
water at this period of time, but later contributes largely in 
keeping up marine life. 

The advent of life, and especially man, is never lost sight of, 
and emphasis is given to its supreme importance in the divine 
scheme. 



108 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(48) 

Momentous cliang-es creepiDg on the shores of Time, 
Or moving with a thought-evoking pantomime, 
He sees, and knows thereby a transport, strange, sublime. 
A little while ago the earth with burning fever 
He saw, and, seeing now the flush about to leave her, 
Is wondering what the effect will be, — 
When lo! 
A Calm! 
The sea of air 

Is still, 
And everywhere 
A thrill, 
As of a wild expectancy 
And deep alarm. 



The Poetry of Science. 109 

(49) 

From pole to pole, from zone to zone, the land and sea 

Have reached at last the stage of heat-equality; 

And so the universal lull begins to be 

In evidence, but this does not exist for long: 

Oh, mark hoAV radiation sings her endless song 

Of labor; mark, too, how they work — that myriad throng 

Of sunbeams bearing heat to the equatorial belt 

Of the earth, for there they make their greatest efforts felt. 



110 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(50) 
Where vertical sunbeams lend 
Their lifting hands, Oh, then 
And there, the winds ascend, 
And lo! behold I begin 
Those movements in the atmosphere that comprehend 
The globe entire — and, what is more, these currents flow 
Through time — how long? forever — long as sunbeams glow, 
Long as the King of Day remains a star of heaven — 
Ten million years! 
Grod's messengers. 
Like registers, 
Show records of their trix^s to poles and back again. 



The Poetry of Science. Ill 

(51) 

No petty records — these, — 

On every sea-born breeze 

Imprisoned heat-raTs ride. 

XoAv near, now far and wide, 

They go to raise the tide 

Of heat on eyery side 

The globe (that's not bestride 

The equator), there to abide 
In yapor-cnstody a few brief moments more, — 
When suddenly they spring for freedom! Hark! a roar! 
The captors fail to pass the hills and mountain-walls;* 
Defeated, back they go as rapids, riyers, falls. 



See "Influence of Mountains on Raiv.fa]]" in a physical geography. 



112 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(52) 
Back to the sea tliev go, transporting salt and silt, 
Material out of wliicli some centuries hence are built 

Scales, shells, and pearls, 

The castles of the deep-sea earls 
Hunting in aerated parks of littoral waters* — 
(Such has the blinking, blushing, loving dewdrop taught us) 



Mountainous monuments, memorial shafts iand tombs, 
Are also raised, we learn, to stand till the era blooms 
When man, inquiring man, those ancient graves exhumes. 



* See "Relation of Rivers to Ocean Life"' in a physical geograpliy. 



The Poetry of Science. 



(53) 
Xo petty records — these- — 
Tlie great and glorious seas, 
Tossed l)T the moon and Avind, exhibiting fearful power, 
Whether in storm or calm, have reached the eventful hour 
For vast and systematic moyements. Ocean streams, 
Obedient to their proud air-captain, turn, it seems. 
Their utmost energy in carrying out those subtle schemes 
Anticipating kingdoms ruled b}^ royal beings. 
Imperial man unborn! and kingdoms! dewdrop-seeings ! 



114 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

BOOK Till. 

The Spontaneous Creation of Life. 

Argument: When, where, or how life was created no one 
knows. The advocates of the theory of evolution have left this 
question unanswered, but are generally agreed that a single act 
of creation is responsible for the complex streams of life — plant 
and animal. Agassiz, the contemporary of the great leaders 
in the evolutionary theory, contended that each separate geolo- 
gic age involved a distinct act of creation. However, the 
broad underlying principles in the theory are fast becoming 
universal in the thoughts of men, and no doubt shall in a few 
years occupy a place in biology as unshaken as gravitation 
in physics and astronomy. The following lines deal with this 
thought, and express faith in the immortality of the soul ; 
praying for Eeligion to slough the skin of dogmatism, for 
Science to quit the shell of materialism. 



*ii 



The Poetry of Science. 115 



(54) 
The dead, dumb earth, swift-giidiiig palace, Jsoftly gleaming 
In sun-rayed majesty, impulsivelv is steaming [waits 

Towards change — ascendant, potent, marvelous change — and 
In paramount expectancy the sudden stroke 
Which turns insensate matter into life whose fires 
Of energy, inherent and dynamic, shall 
Attack opposing piles of ohstacles and burn 
With wondrous power, evoking awe as well as praise. 



* See stanza 39. 




116 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(55) 
^'Immaculate splendor I See the radiant King of Heaven 
Else from His throne, upraise His head, and lift His eyes 
Bright with the glory of an All-including thought, 
And brighter now — ten thousand times more dazzling than 
The diamond settings of His temple — as He stands 
In contemplation of a mighty deed that must 
Be done, and gazes a moment on His numberless stars 
And whirling worlds — strong subjects working out His Will. 

(56) 
^'Quick with response, without His word or sign to stop, 
The heavenly choirs respect His mood and attitude. 
Reduce the music to a tone as sweet and low 
As a voice of love, and with a common thrill await 
A wonder which shall flash, somewhere, before their view. 
Straight for our earth a ball of fire is shot across 
The sky as silent as a meteor, yet far brighter. 
Swifter, — flying like a thunderbolt, it strikes! and lo! 



The Poetry of Science. 117 

(57) 
"Out of the dust, the clawu 
And light of life are drawn! 

Miraculous ! 
Down in the deeps of Time 
Behold that living slime 

That's back of us, — 
Progenitors of thine, 
O human form divine! 

'Alack! Oh, thus 
Light of the soul is doomed V 
Exclaims th-e heart entombed 
In doubt. O reasoning mind, 
Doubt not the soul shall find [Time, 

Its range and sweep through the infinite deep of Space and 
Caught in the realm of woe, or brought to a heavenly clime! 



118 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(58) 
"Xow reasoning mind in doubt, 
Come, come! Oh, laugh and flout 
The bigot's shallow creed: 
Prepare, prepare to speed 
In palace cars of thought across rich continents 
Explored and named by Science. Ride and gaze on wonders 
Wrought by the hand of God. Unveiled, His monuments 
Sing you a song. Arise, O rational light that sunders 
The mists of superstition with thy nascent glow, 
As sunbeams vanquish vapor, heavy-hanging, low!" 



The Poetry of Science. 119 

BOOK IX. 
Eozoic Eea^ or Dawn of Life. 

Argument: Large quantities of graphite, limestone, and 
iron ore are found deposited in the earliest rocks, suggesting 
to the scientist that life was present on the earth then in corres- 
pondingly great quantities, for these substances are accumulated 
under the influence of organic matter now (and why not then?) . 
A non-conformity of rocks and a sweeping change in life-forms 
mean a lost interval in time, as a rule, and each great geologic 
age (characterized usually by some dominant animal life as 
molluscs, fishes, reptiles, mamm'als, man) is separated from 
the other l)y this difference in rocks and life. 

The dewdrop speaks with the emphasis of an eye-witness, 
sees the struggle in life, its undeniable tendency upward, its 
divergence into two streams — the fauna and the flora; — ^and its 
passage from the Eozoic to the Paleozoic era. 



120 The DE^YDROp's Soul. 



(59) 
This formless life fulfills its work and rears a host 
Of hardy emigrants that cross the wondrous bridge 
Spanning that wide, mysterious chasm — Lost Interval. 
Far down the steeps of Time, o'ersweeping ridge on ridge, 
O'erleaping chasm on chasm, our eyes descend, and fall 
On tombstones lying far below 

Debris of rocks 
And bodies of the dead of long ago. 

And lo! 
What thoughts outpour 
From graphite, limestone, iron ore!* 



* See a geology or a chemistry. 



The Poetry of Science. ^ 121 

(60) 
How far above your own tlie dewdrop's kuoAvledge looms! 
Meaningless mass of matter seen as crumbled tombs 
By eves untrained for greater depth of view, assumes 
Profound significance reflected from this soul 
Impearled and borne, like a perfect, beauteous oriole, 
Along the ages; resting now 
On trembling bough 
Beside the edge of brakes, and, deep suffused in smiles, 
Yearning to lift her new-found lover over the stiles. 



122 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(61) 

*Tlioii sparkling gem, electrifying are thy blushes 

As to thy crystal soul the gladsome sunbeam rushes 

To feel the flush of gorgeous life unknown before. 

The enamoured heart that studies long thy winsome face, 

Shall find thy soul containing bounds of Time and Space, 

And whatsoever else of deep and hidden lore. 

Gaze on, enraptured heart. Oh, read the dewdrop's story; 

Thy life is there in secret, as the sunbeam's glory. 



The keynote to the poem. 



The Poetry of Science. 123 

(62) 

Tlirougli blood and mire, 

Through flood and fire, 

Tliis race entire 
Fought for the bridge. The strongest made the goal, and crossed ; 
All others, crushed midst mighty Avail, Avere lost, lost, lost! 
The bridge I the Avondrous bridge! is lost? It cannot be! 
When mountains, trembling, reeling, rolled beneath the sea — 
Alas! the bridge AA'ent down, but shall at length emerge* 
In fragments echoing tones as from the direst dirge; 
And heard Avhen Science giA-es us the intellectual nudge; 



'' As modeiTi geologists extend their observations, the idea of "Lost Interval" is be- 
ing abandoned: the "bridge'' is being restored. However, the old classification of the geologic 
ages is retained for convenience. 



1-4 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(63) 

Yet known alone A^iien sTniparliv and love nnseal 

Tills crvstal dewdrop's soul jnst waiting to reveal 

The secrets long x^reserved in memory's aml>er cells. 

Hark, liarki The dewdrop speaks! Oh, listen while it tells 

Yon other stories drawn from cut a life that teems 

With myriad scenes and facts from lakes and seas and streams. 

Under the soil, on land, or through all oceans known. 

And rotmd the globe, or there wherever winds have blown. 

f64) 
*'For eons I have had a wonderftil career 
Culling events from every age and clime; and as sincere 
Historians strive to leave contemporaneous deeds 
Uncolcred by their own beliefs, so I have sought 
To treat my subjects, dropping them as wind the seeds 
Of plants, to grow in proper soil, and bloom with thought. 
Ah, friend and lover mine, I boast of magic sweeps 
In scaling blissful heights, in treading tragic deeps. 



The Poetry of Science. 



125 



(65) 

^'^ly triple form permits the widest latitudes 

For viewino- dramas with tlieir varied iuterludes. 

As liquid pearl, as icy gwn, or airy wight, 

I go my rounds, forever changing in my flight 

To suit my life and function here below the stars. 

To learn that onward, upward, never wrecked on bars, 

Life's vessel sails before divine, eternal breath, 

I've traveled all the paths and shores 'twixt life and death. 

(66) 

'^Distinctlv I remember — in that twilio-ht ^Dawn 
Of Life', so many, many thousand 3'ears ago, 
Two vital streams of living beings began to flow 
From one original rivulet; and flowing on 
And on, diverging and enlarging, grew distinct 
Enough for easv recognition and succinct 
Analysis. Long, loinj before that bridge was cleared 
The fauna and the flora of the world appeared. 



126 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(67) 

"Long, long before that bridge was crossed, 
Before tlie storms 
And throes of revolution tossed 
Them sore, those forms 
Of life were embalmed, — preserved as records to be read 
By kings in Season's realm. 
With forward arms outspread, 
And downward palms o'erhead. 
An angel voice then said 
A benediction! Ah! 'twas done! I saw the book 
With marble leaves laid low beneath the waves. God took 
,The mountains down and with them sealed His manuscript. 



The Poetry of Science. 127 

(68) 

"What prince shall break the seal? 
Oh, the ecstasy I feel 
In contemplation of the nnflaggino-, glowing zeal 
Among the kings of thought to explore the hidden field 
AVhere God has placed those records, lying now concealed 
Behind great metamorphic rocks nnfound, unknown 
By man, as yet; but here I prophesy: Up-borne 
By patient toil those marble leaves shall soon be shown 
The thinking race; and read, as other books of stone. 



128 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(69) 
"Oh, could I endow tliee with my retrovspective power, 
While now in sweet communion flies this golden hour 
AYhen poet-heart and dewdrop-soul beneath this bower 
Of rich auroral splendor, greet as sweethearts greet, — 
How far above your age jou'd be — an electric tower 
Flashing good news, Marconi-like, to heart and brain, — 
Xews sure to eleyate the souls of men, as lyre 
AYith lulling yoice to lift the human heart in pain! 

(70) 

"The dual streams of life afford me much concern! 
The moment when I saw them I began to learn 
That mysteries as deep as God's own personag-e 
Encircle life of eyerj form, — a surplusage 
Of miracles in eyery ray from liying flames. 
Yea, miracles in ashes of the dead whose aims, 
Far from remote to them, seem centered in the scope 
'Tween birth and death — a narrow path deyoid of hope!" 



The Poetry of Science. 



129 



BOOK X. 



Paijeozoic Era^ or Old Life, and the Permian Period. 



Argument : As yet life of both kinds is found only in the 
water. Before the end of this Age botli plants and animals 
have representatives in tlie air. The plant, emerging first, 
makes it possible for the animal to come out of the water. 
Plants are, and have always been, the producers of food, while 
animals are the consumers. During this era the plants not 
only did a great deal toward removing carbonic acid gas 
(carbon dioxide) from the air, but were furnishing countless 
animals with food, and la.^ing up most of the coal which now 
contributes so much to our complex civilization. 

Through the energy of the sunlight the green part of the 
plants (chlorophyll bodies) transforms carbonic acid gas and 
water into starch. This starch is afterwards converted into 



130 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

gums, acids, oils, sugars, proteicls, and so forth, to subserve 
the various needs and functions of the plant. The process is 
known to botanists as '^photosynthesis", and results in the fix- 
ing of carbon (that is, the solid part of the plant), and the 
excretion of oxygen — the vitalizing element of the air. 

''Alternation of generations" is the most powerful argument 
in favor of the evolution of plants, and may be regarded as the 
key to a long hidden mystery. To acquire a knowledge of 
this subject is well worth your while. The dewdrop thrills to 
see the courageous efforts of the plants to surmount their 
difficulties, and rise to higher forms. 

The evolution of the animal from the mollusc to the fish, 
and thence to the amphibian, the dewdrop watches with eager- 
ness, and sees in the first imperfect lungs of the toad the possi- 
bility of the noblest forms of air-breathing creatures. Before 
the Age is terminated the reptiles begin to chafe under the 
yoke of the dynasty of fish and so threaten the overthrow of 
their rulers, while the ominous signs of a Eeign of Terror are 
extant. 



The Poetry of Science. 131 

Through the hipse of ages corpses b}^ the milliards decay and 
poison the air, water, and soil, but by a marvelous chemical 
agency, never ceasing, the contamination is only momentary. 
The dewdrop is delighted as it contemplates this beneficent, 
universal work, which is so seldom a subject of conscious 
thought among men. 

Wherever the scientist turns his eye there are numberless 
examples of a spiritual guiding force to which only the sensitive 
heart responds. The dewdrop urges those who are wrestling with 
the problems in geology to ^'rise to the height of this great 
argument'' by breaking away from the blight of superstition. 



132 The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(71) 
"O marvelous streamis ! Upon tli}^ bosoms like a sail 
I've passed from era to era! Hail! Oli, hail! 
To tlie 'Old Life', as in memory I approaeli lier port! 
I come again to watch the living creatures sport, 
Unconscious of their destinies, in shallow seas, 
Neath ocean swells, on land, in water-dripping breeze; 
To move the petrifying brains of living men 
Searching these streams, unmindful of a spiritual ken. 



The Poetry of Science. 133 

(72) 

"Strewn on the bottom, orient pearls of thought are resting, 
Thrown from the hand of God. Emotional hearts requesting 
Gift of a sight divine, conjoined with power to dive. 
Shall grasp these opalescent pearls, and rise alive 

With burning zeal for more 

Of the uncorrupting store 

Of wealth. O splendid purse, 

Forever free from curse 

Of mad conventional strife, 

In thee is higher life. 

From thee a bounty flows. 

Flows on and on forever. 



134 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 
(73) 



*^'Wonderful ^adaptation to environment' ! 

How manifest in all the subtle bodies sent 

To bear the torch of life securely through the mists 

And glooms of strife, defying relentless strategists, 

And passing on triumphant through the woes anid wiles 

Of unremitting war; 

Training their ranks and files 

To whip or overawe 

All their unworthy foes ! 

The weak must fall ! God knows 

It, else He'd interpose! 



* See Darwin's "Origin of Species'' for a discussion of "natural selection." 



The Poetry of Science. 135 

(74) 
^'The fittest must survive I All otliers fall aside, 
Crushed in the flood of the ever- swelling, sweeping tide 
Of hardier organisms, whose blazing birth-stars glide 
Like a resplendent constellation o'er the mountains 
Of the east. O systems, dead or dying in these fountains 
Of dazzling light ! I gladly tune my harp to raise 
A wide-redounding, far-resounding song of praise 
To thee ; thy deeds must shoot from out the obscuring blaze P' 

(75) 

"Wliat though their bodies lie in shapeless dust. 

Diffused tlirough ancient rocks, the smallest beings have thrust 

Hereditary shafts of life through other kinds; 

And so procession on procession slowly winds 

Along the thoroughfare of Time in ever-shifting 

Pageants, and under laws of variation lifting 

Far out of reach of the imagination's flights, 

Tribe above tribe on never-ending terrace-heights. 



136 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(76) 
''Over the bedside of a tliin and dying pool, 
The foster-mother of a group of tender plants, 
I leaned — Oh, many a thousand moons ago ! and full 
Of pity, gazed intently on the laboring pants 
Heaying her besom with spasmodic gasps for breath, 
When lo I alas ! she yanishes on the wings of death ! 
The helpless orphans! how thej die! unused to air. 
Poor things succumb ! But friend, the hand of God was there ! 



The Poetry of Science. 



13' 



(TT) 
^'Aud all ! behold I a daughter plant* is given the power 
To breathe and live ! Oh, how the winds and sunbeams shower 
Their kisses on her cheeks^ — this blushing Eve estranged 
And startled bv her new surroundings! Happy hour 
AAlien, based on the architectural symmetry of a flower, 
Plans for a garden of wondrous beauty are arranged ! 
From Eve herself evolves this lovely Eden bower ! 
Evolving still, through countless cycles, higher and higher! 



* See "Evolution of Plants" in an advanced botanr. 



138 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(78) 
"O human soul, entranced and wandering in a maze 
Of thouglit sublime, here flare the lights that daze 
All eyes less keen and piercing than an eagle's gaze! 
What though the optic nerve is strained, do thou attest 
Thy strength of vision ; do ! 'Tis God's behest ! 
He means for you to comprehend His thought 
And plans, so' imposing and stupendous ! He has wrought 
In adamantine form his mighty work; and brought 

(79) 
"The human intellect through doleful dark and gloom 
Of savage stupor to the noon-tide swells of light 
Bathing those mountain-domes where dwell the modern peers 
Of thought and reason, penetrating from their high 
And splendent tlhrone the untrodden depths of truth 
Unseen before, — the truth disiguisedi and hidden long, 
Immeasurably long ! beneath a sickly terror 
And superstition born of ignorance, — or what 



The Poetry of Science. 139 

(80) 

^'Is worse, a passiye, indolent, and cursed clinging 
To a worthless corpse of dead ideals and putrid forms 
Exhaling stench on stench of deadly fumes, 

Poisoning the heart, 

Blighting the brain. 

Sinking the soul! 



Free as a bird! as light of wing! then why not fly, 
O passionate seeker after truth, above the clouds? 
Why let a dark Peruvian* custom curse thy life 
With its perennial night? Arise, and follow me! 



See Prescotfs "Conquest of Peru" for the religious festivals and deities. 



140 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(81) 
''Oil, follow me I I travel tlirouoh stranoe G-arden-yiews 
'Long the unending vistas sparkling with the dews 
Of priceless thottght, enshrined in crystal beauty drawn 
Out of the air of Heaven. I've shown you through the 'Dawn 
Of Life' ; and now, exultant, point out scene on scene 
Unfolding, as we fly, through never-ending sheen 
Emblazing epoch after epoch with the glory 
Encircling the 'Old Life'. Oh, sweet dews, reflect the story. 

(82) 
^"I sail and sail through the ambient air for centuries; 
I swim and swim the bounding, oft-fi'equented seas 
For quite as long; and everywhere immensities 
Encompass me, — and still this Ancient Era run^s 
Its mighty course, — ^^and not a life, 'mong millions, shuns 
Its destiny, or dies in vain I Vast colonies 
Of plants, enjoying the novel kisses of the breeze. 
Infold the globe with life of high and low degrees. 



The Poetry of Science. 141 

(83) 

"I see the simple forms acquiring specialties; 
Anon, I pass from grove to grove of fern-like trees, 
And feel the sorroAvfiil, insuperable doom 
Of silence hanging over forest depths in gloom: 
No caroling of birds, no springtime hum of bees, 
No saucy barking from the squirrels! All of these 
Air-breathing creatures lie concealed as in a tomb, 
And silent ! waiting resurrection ! Look ! the seas 

(84) 

Are stirred and teeming with a thousand million creatures 

Evolving slowly, surely, to the higher, nobler features 

Of beings inhabiting the air; but yet how far! 

A tedious path as long as the orbit of a star 

They travel ! ( Thus the length appears to a finite mind ! ) 

But on and on the living trunks divide! Defined 

And moving with an upward trend, at length they rise 

With fresh-formed lungs and breathe in air! A mystery lie-s 



142 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(85) 

Behind it all! Unfatliomable? Wonders twist 
All timorous tongues ; but wistful wisdom, keeping tryst 
With Truth, with Love's diplomacy, far-seeing, whist, 
Unfolds his sweetheart's bosom secr-ets rich with lore 
Of ages gone, or going, and forevermore! 
Unfolds his sweetheart's bosom secrets, mutual store 
Of wealth in plighted love, and gains the blissful shore 
And Golden Oate, outside the sea's tempestuous roar! 



The Poetry of Science. 143 

(86) 
''An oyster in a yacht of shell inlaid with pearl, 
Is wrecked and starving midst the waste of sands and swirl 
Of waves primordal; see! the sailor gasps and dies — 
Heart-rending scene ! No tropical Crusoe-island hies 
Him thence; he's doomed; the gloomy, barren, hostile air 
With breath of poison kills him, causing dire despair 
Of lineal ascent to a crown and throne up there 
Bevond that water-kino^dom where 
He left his heir! 



144 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 



(87) 
^'Strange spectacle I The sunlight shifts from pole to pole 
How many thousand-thousand times, — I do not know, — 
While I am watching heir on heir turn goal on goal 
Of birth and death as generations roll and roll 1 
And ah, those differentiations seem so slow — 
To mortals! Why should eyolution mould the whole 
Of progress known to life? 'Tis the only way to grow 
To nobler stature?' 'Yes,- replies the Oyersoul. 



The Poetry of Science. 145 

(88) 
''Oh, watch them move along — • 
That strange and mighty throng 
Of scaleless, boneless fish 
That rise, without their wish 
Or knowledge, raised aloft 
By invisible hands as soft 
And gentle with their touch 
As the infant's velvet clutch : ' 

Anon, there swims the sea 
A fish with vertebrae; 
In time, the 'huge-fish' rules 
A thousand other schools; 
And widespread terror reigns 
When'er the tyrant deigns 
To deck his festal board 
^Yit]l flesh of subjects gored ! 



146 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(89) 
"Some trembling fugitives find refuge in the shoals, 
While others flounder down the slopes of shallow holes, 
To death far worse than from the ^claw-tooth' fish-patrols. 
Mad struggle for existence ! Death in water, ooze, 
Or air ! I hear their piteous cries and never lose 
The memorj-pictures. Look! the heartless plagues forget, 
Or mock, the prayers for lungs, — while o'er the parapet 
Of Heaven fall kind but firm replies : 'Not yet ! Not yet' ! 



The Poetry of Science. 147 

(90) 

"Then far and near, 
A voice I hear 
In tones as clear 
As bells, and pure as love, 
Commanding from above 
The purging of our atmosphere 
So foul with carbon dioxide,* and so drear 
With shroud-like vapors which appear 
As winding-sheets of the forsaken dead, 
With not a tear 

Being shed 
Over the bier 
Of a single corpse, and no one dear 
Enough to chant a dirge to sear 
The leer 
And save the ear 
From fashion's sneer. 

See "Carboniferous Age" in a geology. 



1^'^ The De"^t)Rop's Soul. 

(91) 
"This message flies from plant to plant like flashing light 
From star to star ; and green-robed viceroTS expedite 
Celestial orders : 'Move, gTeat mass of chlorophyl',* 
Echo the ringing, resonant voices, 'show your skill 
To seize those sunbeam-threads un win din or in the skv 
Like silver cords from ball of flre, which God 1-et flv 
Through space, and weave the cloth of pith and bark and wood, 
The magic garment serving as terrestrial hood'. 



* See '"Pliotosjntliesis' in an adTanced botany. 



The Poetry of Science. ' 149 

(92) 

^'Under a mjstic touch the insensate matter thrills 

With life, and forest-growth upsprings on plains and hills 

To purify our air through marvelous chemistry. 

Behold the hosts of chemists with intensity 

Of application, toiling, toiling zealously, 

Over the tasks assigned them. Look ! the grandest corps 

Of sanitary wizards ever known ashore 

This globe, or seen to pace a laboratory floor ! 



150 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(93) 
*"Hark! the iron horse now dashing over rails of steel 
Pulling apace the train of cars that whir and wheel 
Through clouds of dust from curve to curve, I'd have vou feel 
His pulse-beat! Do! Ah, friend, a million years ago 
That throbbing heart and energy began to flow 
As silent sunlight streaming on the plants you know 

As carboniferous! 

Sublime economy, 

When chemists see 

Results that span eternity! 



See the "Origin of Coal Measures' in a geology. 



The Poetry of Science. 



151 



(94) 

"Contemporaneous chemists toil in other spheres, 

And pass their wondrous products down the sweep of years, 

To raise the dignity of yon far-famed emporium! 

Those asphalt floors down stone-walled, sky-ceiled avenues 

That reach for miles and miles, are but the residues 

Of life marine,* disguised in that petroleum 

Whose gushing stream and fiery force are recognized 

As patent factors in the world of wealth assized. 



* Account for tlie presence of salt water at the bottom of oil wells. 



152 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 



(95) 

^'Befoul the air, infect the streams with poison veins, 
Or drench the soil with rotting carcasses and stains 
Of vile and virulent venom, — still, disease occurs 
But seldomwhile, and rank contagion registers 
Few sweeping scores in death, so well they do their work — 
This band of chemists cleaning water, air, and muck. 
Great Heaven ! should they ordain a strike for even a day, 
This wide domain of life would turn to pulseless clay ! 



The Poetry of Science. 1o3 

(96) 
"Oh, wonderful ! so wonderful ! this scheme of thine, 
My God and King sublime! Oh, let him fall in line. 
This ardent soul that yearns and yearns for light divine, — 

Oh, let him fall in line, 

To share the golden sign 
And grace of victory where truth and thought outshine 
The tinsel glitter of the gaudy dresses, fine 
In nothing more than siren art with poAvder mine 
To shake and shatter hearts that bow at fashion's shrine. 



154 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(97) 
"Tlie plants and other agencies receiving word 
To purify our air, began then when they heard 
The prayer and cry for lungs from wailing animals. 
Like firemen fighting fire, they sought no intervals 
Of rest, but labored on against the mortal foe 
To all air-seeking creatures in the deep, which show 
Their heads above the water, or as much as dare 
To raise a sigh or prayer 
For gift of breathing air. 



The Poetry of Science. 155 

(98) 

'^Tliank heaven! the foe is A^aaiquislied ere this era fades; 

And the reptilian-fish with half-formed lungs invades 

The treacherous medium, presaging with his boon 

Of lungs the coming of another age. And soon 

The reptiles gain their right of might, and snatch the crown 

From reigning fish, to ];)ut the former tyrant down 

Beneath a tyranny more dreadful than his own ; 

To make the despot-sovereign reap the whirlwind sown. 



156 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(99) 



"The combination in ampliibian lungs and gills 

Foretells a higher life, as hillside springs and rills 

Anticipate the river's wide expanse, and thrills 

The throbbing world with sight of far-off peaks unsealed, 

Or shimmering seas untouched, unmapped, unknown, unsailed ! 

Live on, deep-breathing toad, 

Those sighs for breath forebode 

A marked and marvelous change 

In life: — with breadth and range 

Surpassing human view, 

Without me — drop of dew. 



The Poetry of Science. 157 

(100) 

*'From cellular to vascular the plants have shown' 

Their tendencv for upward movement and have grown 

Complex in structure and in function. Eve, alone, 

The daughter plant endowed with life in air, has strewn. 

With queenly lavishness, the garments of her loom 

Around the world to save the hills and plains the doom 

Of nakedness. Her splendid records lie encased 

In rocks. Immaculate queen, thy deeds shall not be -effaced ! 



158 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(101) 
''Her records rest in rocks? Not altogetlier thus! 
Behold the world arrayed in green, with overplus 

Of plants in favorite spots. 

Eve's varied offspring dots 

The landscape everywhere 

With h-erbs and shrubs and trees. 
Going from the flowerless to the flowering kinds that please 
Man's keenest sense of beauty, they have climbed up high on 
The rungs of life — these plants. From moss to dandelion* 
They rise to graft the lower stock with nobler scion. 



Locate the rank of Compositae in the Evolution of plants. 



The Poetry of Sciexce. 159 

(102) 

"That mass of moss your crushing shoe-soles bruise, 

Examine! ^Alternating generations' lose 

Distinctness in the higher forms, but here they fuse 

In vital clasp of equal strength, and well defined. 

Such strange device of plants! 'Connecting links' are lined 

Along that 'Old Life' shore 

Where billows break no more, 
Disclosing quite the same in cryptogamic spore* 
And phenogamic fruit diverging from one core. 



* See "Reproduction in Plants" in an advanced botany. 



160 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 



(103) 
'"The P-ermian revolutions sway 
And swing and sweep 
Before my startled ken; — 
The dead, in dreamless sleep, 
Wrapped in a coverlet of clay 
Beside the deep, 
Lapped by the soft caressing spray, 
A seamless heap 
Capped by the mountains crowned with day. 
Abide the peep 
Of science, or wait the searching ray 
That thinking men 
Now shed to climb the streamless steep 
Athwart the way 
To treasured thoughts sepulchral mountains guard and keep. 



7? 



ThIE Poetry of Science. 161 

BOOK XI. 

Mesozoic Era, or Middle Life, and the Laramie Period. 

Argument : The following- stanzas introduce us to the Age 
of Eeptiles. These monsters, more powerful than any living 
creatures, were the rulers in the air, in the place of birds; 
the tyrants of the sea, in the place of sharks; and the despots 
of the land, in the place of beasts. This is, perhaps, the blood- 
iest age in the history of the earth. The Dewdrop quits the 
scenes of this Age with a sense of relief. 
' In the Transition Period to the succeeding Age we get a 
glimpse of familiar forms of the mammal that is to rule the ''Ke- 
cent Life.'' 



162 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(104) 

"Tli'Oise dark, iincoutli, remorselessi mo'msters, swift of motion, 
With devilish eyes like pirate searchlights scouring the ocean, 
Espy their prey, and like an armored squadron flying 
In wild pursuit, bestir the sea with steamer-swells; 
While frightened fleets of fish are frantically trying 
To escape the fearful thrusts from deadly dirks of hell's 
Dread demons dashing for their spoils^ — astounding bites 
Of fresh-torn flesh allaying reptile-appetites. 

(105) 
^^W'ar ! war ! eternal war ! I isicken as I turn 
To gaze upon the crimson stains that, fire-like, burn 
An everlasting brand on memory's tender derm. 
My God ! How can this 'Middle Life' contain the germ 
Of progress in organic forms ! 'O restless heart 
And finite brain, be calm ! The counterpart 
Of war is peace. Dost see the gleaming spears of light 
Forth flashing in the East? This augurs death of Night.' 



The Poetry of Science. 163 

(106) 

^'O reptile tongue, ensconced behind a barricade 
Of beast-like teeth, besieging Time is sure to wade 
In blood through frowning breastwork thou hast laid; 
And bound to put an end to boasting of thy reign. 
That insignificant marsupial does not dare 
To cross thy highway now, but mark, a future race 
Of rulers with descendants strong enough to efface 
Thy loathsome line is nascent in that weakling waif. 



164 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 
(107) 



^'After the manner of peculiar plants tlij trunk 
Hath dropped this living branch to grow a vigorous tree 
With limbs to spread, 
Ais toAvering arms, above thy shrunk 

And shrinking head; 
To bring the joys of liberty 
To a thousand smaller creatures being oppressed by thee. 
Canst thou exclaim, 
^It cannot be! 
It cannot be! 
This sovereignty 
Shall pass from me! 
Shall pass from me! ' 
And yet 'tis passing, gruesome king — 'Tis passing — See! 



The Poetry of Science. 165 

(108) 

"All, robin-redbreast, couldst thou know tli}^ pedigree 
In full, thy carol-trill, with dumb astonishment, 

AYould die within thy throat, 

And joyous minstrelsy 

From firm fraternity 

Of forest birds in glee 

Would cease, — would cease to be 

A gladsome melody. 
Listen ! Oh, listen ! How the hellish shrieks besiege 
My ears! That finger- winged, tooth-armed, ancestral liege 
Of thine, that ugly lizard-bird, — Oh, hear his whine! 



166 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(109) 
^^When hunger gnaws 
He flies and caws, 
Willie crunching jaws 
Like diabolic interludes supply the pause. 



'^Beautiful bird, bright-breasted herald of the spring, 
What means that painful flutter? Thou dost cling 
With difflculty to that leafy bough! A charm? 
I see! A serpent's eye has wrought this great alarm! 
Oh, horrors! Stop! obscene, mad cannibal, stop, there! 
Wouldst eat thy cousin-bird, and drink his blood? Forbear! 



The Poetry of Science. 167 

(110) 

"The vegetable kingdom, not so slow in marching 
Onward to modern forms, exhibits here its arching 
Keystone uniting present trees with ancient ones. 
Welcome! Oh, welcome! walnut, willow, sycamore! 
And ye, too, laurels, myrtles, oaks, with score on score 
Of forest comrades, welcome ! Stahvart sires of sons 

We know so well, 
The human heart begins its spell 
Of wonder as it throbs to memoirs which you tell. 



168 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(Ill) 
^'Transition Periods show the signs of greatest change, 
And hold the rarest archives of the life and range 
Of animals and plants extinct and buried down, 
Deep down, in roughhewn tombs unseen until the crown 
Of later mould dissolves. This Laramie contains 
Connecting Links' of twofold life whose trunks like skeins 
Of silken thread remain to be at length unwound 
And woven into finest fabric — ^thought profound." 



The Poetry of Science. 



169 



BOOK XI L 
Cenozoic Era, or Recent Life. 

Argument: Up to this time, in the history of crust move- 
ments of the earth, the physical features are quite as strange 
as the organisms, but now a glimpse at the mountain ranges 
gives the dim but unmistakable outline of the continents as 
known today. The delight in this is akin to the joy of the 
patriot in returning to the shores of his native land. Mill- 
ions of years have elapsed since the ''fire and water strife'' 
referred to in the earlier part of the narrative. 

Higher forms of insects arrive Avith the advent of flowers; 
and cross-pollination among plants begins. In the '^struggle 
for existence" the beautiful ''law of variation" with the ''sur- 
vival of the fittest" gives the variety in the form and the color 
o'f the flowers. In the be^^innino: onlv the "essential or^uns", 



i 



170 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

that is, stamens and pistils, were present, but later, as com- 
petition ^ew keener, decorative devices were acquired in order 
to attract the pollen-carrying insects, or birds. So, it is in- 
ferred that the first flower adorned with petals was yellow, 
the color coming from the stamen, from which the petal evolved, 
as demonstrated by living specimens easily obtained and rec- 
ognized by even the casual student of botany. Then arose 
through evolution the great variety in color and form, which 
bewilders and delights the student of natural history. 

Familiar animals appear also, and tlirough the process of 
evolution, which leaves its brand on every living creature, the 
numberless species of our own time are transmitted with but 
a slight difference from their Cenozoic ancestors. 

The physical changes during this Era were stupendous. 
Every one is familiar with the records of the Ice Age. The 
mountains ros-e to sucli a height that condensation of vapor 
into snow on their tops was impossible, on account of the great 
decrease in the density of the atmosphere, which facilitates 
evaporation. But farther down on the side was the mantle of 



The Poetry of Science. 



171 



ice, which extended in huge glaciers far down into the temper- 
ate zone, forcing animals and phmts closer to the tropics, scour- 
ing deep holes in the Yalleys of high altitudes, pouring out 
rivers of water from their melting snouts, and leaving vast 
moraine deposits to mark the ends of their journey to the south. 

The subsidence of the land that succeeds the glacial period 
is called the champlain period. The glaciers march back to 
the north and leave numerous lakes dammed with debris. These 
lakes, as the land sinks, pour over the ridges instead of the 
dams down primordal valleys, and begin cutting canyons, the 
tops of which we scale today on the Colorado, the Columbia, 
the Hudson, the Danube, and many other rivers. During this 
period the north pole, perhaps, was not surrounded by an im- 
passable barrier of ice; and so could have been easily discov- 
ered. 

The champlain is the flood period, and closes when the land 
begins to rise again. The rivers which were growing stagnant 
during the time of universal depression of land masses, begin 
anew in their canyon cutting; and the lakes, forced to dis- 



172 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

charge into tlie sea a great deal of water made surplus on ac- 
count of the upheaving shores and bottoms, leave the well- 
known benches, or terraces. These signs of the epoch are like- 
wise noticeable along the confining bluffs of our own river 
channels. The land was reclaimed with the comino- of the Ter- 
race period. This period is the one that reaches out into the 
psychozoic era, and down even to the present time. 



The Poetry of Science. 173 

U12) 

"Awake! 

O human soul, 

^[j tliouoht-waves roll 

And break 

On shores of your 

Own land. 
We close a tour 
As grand 
As gods themselves would choose. 
Let ^Recent Life' suffuse 
Your homesick heart 
AMth exlialationiS risin<T out of scenes 
That make you start, 
And turn to dwell upon those sunset sheens 
And dawn-light skies, 
Which memory oiorifies, — 
With lingering tenderness. 
To gaze on living forms that strive to rise 
To real, divine noljlesse. 



174 



The Dewdrop^s Soul. 



(113) 

"Measureless arc of one interminable curve 

Of years, liow ignorant were we that tliou didst swerve 

From rectilinear course. E'en now in looking: back 

Over the long^ all but illimitable track 

We cut through stormy skies of Time, we vaguely feel, 

Though aided by an azure sky where thunders peal 

No more, the curvature behind our cutting keel. 

Great God! What magnitude in thy unfolding plan! 

(114) 
"Ah ! mountain peaks, mute prophets of the continents, 
Thy walls become the shifting shores and complements 
Of broadening lands. And winds impinge on inland seas 
Whose wave-troughs scourge the shallow bottoms to a frieze 
Of foam, like stainless woolen rugs on carpeting 
Of interchanging green and gray the seasons bring, — 
Ever-recurring colors of the fall and spring. 
Over the hills and plains to which the plants all cling. 



The Poetry of Science. 175 

(115) 

^'Ali, blissful tears are falling from tliy glowing eyes! 
Like sparkling raindrops eominig out of cloudless skies, 
They are rollinj^ down thy joy-enshrined, illumined cheeks ; 
And every welling, rounding pearl, in falling, speaks 
Thy heart's own secret happiness in coming where 
Exotic beings appear to yanish from the air, 
The soil, and streams, — displaced by conquering hordes 
With modern life-forms storming Cenozoic fords. 

(116) 
^'Ah, when the very continents inspire emotion, 
'Tis plain the beach-lines circumscribing every ocean 
Follow the curving thou dost see in modern shores. 
O cosmopolitan musician of the word. 

Those tears so long restrained, those fine love-gems conferred 
On home-like scenes disclosed on entering the doors 
Of 'Recent Life', denote the depth of poet's pride 
In native views unrolled from sea to mountain-side. 



17G The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(117) 
^'Familiar life abounds from sea to mountainside : 
The moths, the bees, and butterflies no longer hide 
In the dead dust, but quickened Avith the ebb and tide 
Of vital streams around them, through them, far and wide, 
Announce their mission : 'We liave come from out the gloom 
Of passiveness to sip the nectar in the bloom 
Of plants, and carry gold-dust pollen to the ovulum 
Which turns to fruit as through a magic menstruum.' 

(118) 
"A range of rational vision, not an empty dream. 
Springs into view when on the surface of the stream 
Of life appears the blossom-firstling of the plants. 
O latent power of a flower! 'Tis not by chance 
The beauty of the blooming boAver descends to enhance 
The modern lawn, the woodland depth, and river brink, — 
Unfolding tints and hues^ — red, blue, white, purple, pink — 
Come from afar, descendants of the yellow link. " 



The Poetry of Science. 



177 



^ 



(119) 
Whence come the gorgeous colors iu the plumes of birds? 
Whence come the gloss and texture in the felts of herds? 
When did the forest thrill with swells of vocal tones, 
Composite music like the notes of polyphones? 
When did the animals begin dispersing seed, 
Getting their food while giving plants tlieir highest need? 
Whence the earliest obvious ancestors of plants now known ? 
The shoots from which our insects, birds, beasts, fish, have 

[grown? 



178 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(120) 

^'Back in the Age of Mammals lie these ruins and bones 
Of close progenitors to living forms in stones 
As safety vaults, which God of All controls and owns. 
Who runs may read; the treasured thought now lies exposed; 
The combination time-lock yields; the door is closed 
No longer ; here the tomes of geologic lore 
In perfect leaves and legible type enrich the store 
Of Evolution 
More than veins of precious ore. 



The Poetry of Science. 



179 



(121) 
*^This Era of far-reaching, triple, physical change — 
Glacial, champlain, and terrace periods* with range 
Of all organic agencies disturbed and torn 
Apart by dreadful climate-treachery, is gone! 
But ah ! the grandeur and the glory of its work ! 
Whenever Keason guides thee thither thou art struck 
With wonder, while u rapture rushes through thy soul 
With flood-like vehemence bevond the Will's control! 



* Consult a geology. 



180 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(122) 

^'How thrilling, scenic raihvay of Mnemosyne, 

Tliy marvelous whirl of views forever urging me 

To wakefulness while riding rails of thought — not steel! 

*Ileverberant voices from the multitudinous tongue 

Of Nature stress the pathos as their songs are sung 

Again through memory's nerve-sped phonograph-like wheel! 

O sounds that haunt these ears! 

O scenes that start these tears! 

O mingling sights and sounds 

With which this Age abounds! 



* The psychic effect of geologic reminiscence. 



The Poetry of Science. . 181 

(123) 

*'Look! the mountains with their heads uncrowned with snow 
Discern the time 'tween morning hue and sunset glow 

Lengthen its arc of light. 

Their peaks attain a height 
Never secured before or since; and, seen afar, 
The glaciers, emerging from the snow-line bar, 
Are curly locks of Age adorning a wrinkled brow, 
But nearer, what a difference ! each curl, a plow 
Grinding against the hills and leaving a lasting scar. 



182 



The Dewdrop's Soul. 



(124) 

*'0 melancholy flight of plants and animals 
Before the slow 
But crushing phalanx of the snow ! 
The glittering spears of ice in manifold array 
Startle the timid brutes and force them from the fray 
Like cowards, long before 
The white-robed armies score 
A triumph; but the trees, bold Spartans, hold the way 
Against the foe, 
And die at last o'er whelmed in snow. 
Each pass seems doomed, but fear they neither death nor woe. 



The Poetry of Science. 



183 



(125) 

"See, the snowless peaks are sinking, bowing down 

Below the clouds, submitting to tlie fearful frown 

Of fate. Old Warwick humbles pride of mountain-kings! 

Ice legions from the center to remotest wings 

Withdraw to northern fields. The neve bergs adrift 

On diverse oceans, like enchanted castles sift [walls, 

The starbeams, sunbeams, moonbeams through their crystal 

And hang bewildering colors in their silent halls. 



184 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(126) 
''Behold the hikes aecumuIatiDg in the path 
Of the receding glaciers; and, oh, the wrath 
Of waters rushing over ridges toward the sea. 
And cutting canyons where the rivers formerly 
Kan parallel — and not across the mountain chains! 
Behold the widening tide and floods upon the plains 
That once were hillside-homes of plants and animals 

Oone where the pole-star shines 

In nearly yertical lines I 



The Poetry of Science. 185 

(127) 

"Majestic lulls allured by songs the sea-Avaves sing 

Stoop for the kiss which leaves inevitable sting 

Of death ; the melting snows relinquish dormant floods, 

And water, bright-eyed lover of the sea, now scuds 

The gloomj^ gorges, on the wings of gravity. 

To meet the sweetheart coming up the drooping vales, — 

An impetuous clasp, then sudden redolence regales 

Them both, — the breath of love is there to fill their sails. 

(128) 
"The thundering cataract lies down to silent dreams; 
The ruthless rapid rushes ov-er rocks no more; 
Now like a spell a stillness reigns through all the streams, 
AYhile hillside life looks down upon the sinking shore. 
The bowlder-rocking stones are rocked by waves — not storms, — 
A tragedy is hanging over northern lands; 
For down, and farther down, they slide and lose the forms 
Of relief approaching those our 'Ps^-chic Life' commands! 



186 The De^^drop's Soul. 

(129) 
"'The northern hemisphere 
Must not be lost beneath the meer! 
O God, avert that fearful doom I 
I seem to hear the boom 
Of waves in mocking laughter roll 
Across the solitary knoll 
Left in the midst of deep-sea swells I 
But brighter hope dispels 
The deepest gloom. 
And ah I the river's waking tells 
The storv of emerging hills and dells. 
Distinct and clear in tone as bells, 
This thought revealed in Terrace shells. 



The Poetry of Science. 



187 



BOOK XIII. 



'IKhe Climax of Creation — ^The Birth of the Human Soul. 



Argument : Man, as the wildest savage, must have witnessed 
the glacial period, and migrated with other animals far toward 
the north during the time of general subsidence of the land. 
This would place his advent on the earth a few hundred thou- 
sand years ago, which is very probable. 

Why should the idea that the human race springs from a 
lower animal be so repulsive? The anatomy and physiology 
of man are so much like certain lower animals that most of 
us revolt at the thought; but the truth must be accepted never- 
theless. The presence of the soul in the human mammal is the 
important distinction. Who understands the mysterious stroke 
that transformed a dumb brute into a reasoning being? But 
how exulting the contemplation of the marvelous evolution of 



188 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

these human creatures! What is the goal of the wonderful 
beings? Are they bound to pierce the veil of mystery? Why 
not? Man is godlike. 

The following stanzas deal with the ereation of the soul, 
and the transplanting of it as an inscrutable instrument of 
power in the brain of the highest known animal. No force is 
comparable to that of the wonderful Avard of the King of Hosts, 
in the physical world; nay, the combined material forces of 
the universe are bedimmed and degTaded in contrast with the 
excess of light and power of the human soul ! 

And noAV the soul of the dewdrop takes flight, dropping its 
prophet-mantle at the feet of the poet, and rises into its heaven 
of air with the promise to return as a messenger of other 
thought out of the heart of God. 



The Poetry of Science. 



189 



(130) 
Suppose Almiglity Power in His imperial Will 
Sliould suddenly determine that His present scheme 
Demands reversing, and with lightning speed project 
From the utmost bounds of the universe the hugest comet 
Imaginable, undermining world on world, 
Consuming system after system in its wild, 
Heaven-sweeping flight, — disclosing in that awful shower 
Of stars, the doomful TRAGEDY OF GRAVITATION ! 

(131) 
And leaving in its fiery wake nor sphere nor dust 
Of sphere — ^a vast void throughout the stellar deep, 
A gulf in utter night, a fire-swept kingdom where 
The ruins are gone — the very smoke and a'shes gone — 
Consumed by the wildest conflagration ever known 
Within the scope of Space and Time, combined and burning 
There in that central mass of seething nebula — 
That demon gorged with a thousand-million worlds and stars, 



190 The Dewdrop^s Soul. 

(132) 
Now tossing with convulsion on convulsion, round 
And round, in t3-i)hoon-niadness ; while Omnipotence, 
Oalm as those stars before their dismal demolition, 
Shining with nobler radiance because divine. 
Embracing all, controlling all, directing all. 
Nowise disturbed, is gazing on that ball of fire 
Containino^ everv atom of His universe 
And wheeling with appalling speed — sole star of heaven ! 

(133) 
Sublime ! O mortal bard, immortal soul in chains 
Of mortal mould! Aghast? Prodigious power of God 
Doth stagger? Strike thee dumb? This wonder, if performed, 
Profoundest known to Him? The boldest mind would not 
Presume to circumscribe the bounds of miracles 
Possible to Him in light of this — the most superb 
Achievement ever wrought among the physical forces 
Surging in ceaseless billows through the shoreless deep. 



The Poetry of Science. 191 

(134) 

But, hark! Dost hear those ultra-cosmic rumblings, far 
Beyond the bottomless abyss of stars, those low. 
Though still ubiquitous, premonitory sounds 
In undulations rising, swelling, sweeping on 
And on, the loftiest tidal wave that ever rolled 
Across the boundless ocean where great God delights 
To sail in regal splendor, spanning the gorgeous sea 
In which His very soul enjoys its liberty? 

(135) 
See, see! within His palm — ^this very moment — look! 
He holds a novel instrument, a precious soul. 
The CLIIMAX OF CREATION ! Now, behold. He tests 
Its power — and there! outstripping starbeams in its flight. 
The wondrous thing, though never so serene and soft. 
Flies for the flaming sphere of whirling worlds en masse. 
And seems exultant o'er the chance to match its strength 
With the grandest Grand Alliance of material forces! 



192 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(136) 

Tlirougli to th-e center of the burning world it darts, 
Out to the surface like a flash it springs again, 
Over the flames it sweeps, a wizard on the wing. 
Far into space it glides, a dancing wight, swift-wheeling. 
Elding the myriad swells of heat and light on-streaming 
Fast for the goal they never, never reach, — far, far, 
Rocked on the bosom of ethereal waves, this sprite 
Is borne along — Oh, joy— the spirit of the skies I 

(137) 
And lo! a smile of approbation, as a wave. 
Exceeding beautiful, in rippling radiance. 
Over the face of God is rolling gracefully. 
And, like auroral skylights, points to effulgent beams 
That play around His heart, the glorious fount surcharged 
AVith joy in noting how His nimble ward, endowed 
With immortality, performs that novel role, 
And triumphs over matter, raging, multifold. 



The Poetry of Science. 193 

(138) 
Back to the throne of God, on incorporeal wings, 
The accomplished ward returns as swift as a wave of light — 
Swift as the sounding summons from the Guardian-throat; 
And ah ! alights and kneels before the Master Spirit. 



Oh, heavenly fiat ! — through the vast and lonely waste, 

On with incalculable speed, this soul now turns 

Toward the world and sudden incarnation ! Mark ! [man !* 

'Tis done! Earth's strange hair-mantled mammal changed to 



* See Darwin's "Descent of Man" and Carlyle's "Sartor Resartus." 



194 The Dewdrop's Soul. 

(139) 

O mystery of mysteries! Now having won 
A brilliant victory, where direst dangers run 
Athwart its path, the soul, resplendent as the sun, 
And scintillating with a luster deftly spun 
Out of the flame 
Of Fame 
Fed by the first deeds done, 
Delighted, unafraid, with no desire to shun 
Its destiny, rides nerves and leaps the ganglion 
In streams of savage life far lower than the Hun. 

(140) 

Twining about the brain, and satisfied to dwell 

Within the bony, shallow, transitory shell 

Until regeneration in the flesh shall quell 

The obscuring shadows cast by superstitions fell 

And dark, the soul looks through the shadows and the gloom, 

And sees the sensual walls, its dungeon-keep, assume 

Transparency ! Between the cradle and the tomb, 

Watching the shifting shuttles in the Mystery Loom! 



The Poetry of Science. 195 

(141) 

^'Farewell! O sweet-souled bard, I leave thee; so, farewell! 

Oh, when we meet again, remember, I shall tell 

About the tributaries which forever swell 

This curious current rolling out its pantomime 

And showing all the headlands of my memory clime!" 

Slowing — 
This transit through the world of happy dreams!* 

Going, — 
This evanescent pearl's reflecting beams ! 

Gone ! — 
This dewdr op-soul to shores of other streams ! 



* See stanza 3. 



196 The Dewdrop's Soul. 



APPENDIX. 

The metrical scheme: The fixed law riinnino^ throuo-h the 
whole poem is that each stanza has fortT-eight rhythmic ac- 
cents, the iambic feet predominating, Avitli only the occasional 
substitution of the anapest for the iambus, and with the intro- 
duction, now and then, of the trochee at the beginning ox a 
line. The normal stanza, the reader will observe, is composed 
of eight hexameter lines. T\'e will call the long lines the funda- 
mentals. Where the dignity of the thought seems to call for 
a different form of expression the stanza is made of blank 
lines, with the fundamental as the characteristic line. Here 
■and there through the poem the fundamentals are broken up 
into overtones — ^that is, short lines — the object being to relieve 
the ear and the eye by the use of a variety of tones and forms. 



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